Bamboo
In a few words
Bamboo is a grass,like banana, straw, wheat, corn and sugarcane.
Their common points: they consist of a cylindrical rod with internodeshollow.
Unlike the tree born from a seed, this giant grass grows in rhizomes, a root matrix that grows a few centimeters below the ground.
Two types of rhizomes:
- leptomorph ➙ tracing ➙ genusPhyllostachys
- pachymorph ➙ non-tracing ➙ genusFargesia
This plant is experiencing strong growth in use worldwide because it grows very quickly and is used in many fields of activity.
Aside from Antarctica, bamboo is present on all continents.
A partnership
Monocotyledonous plants
Poaceae family (grasses)
Where to find it?
In France
In the Cévennes: Prafrance, the largest bamboo plantation in France
In Brittany and in Ain: culture of Moso bamboo.
In Asia
China: country of origin of most varieties
Sri Lanka: endrocalamus giganteus
Africa, Pacific and America
Famous varieties
Growth study in Nantes
With the objective of producing bamboo objects in France, we are currently studying 5 bamboo shoots evolving in different environments and more or less exposed to sunlight. Shoot A, located in a planter and exposed to the sun, recorded a record growth of 18 cm. As for shoot E, it grew 35 cm in one day. Bamboo has a future in France ...
Anecdotes
Bamboo grew in Europe before the Ice Age. Then it was the navigators and the collectors who reintroduced it in our latitudes from the 16th century.
It was thanks to a bamboo filament that Edison operated his first light bulb in 1880
To grow bamboo on virgin soil, it takes 3 to 5 years during which nothing is visible. Then it comes out of the ground and takes 3 meters in 6 weeks. Asians draw from it a rule of life: every hope requires effort and perseverance to materialize.
Its advantages
🎋 Antibacterial
🎋 It growspesticide free
🎋 Light➙ less arduous work for men and less wear and tear on manufacturing machines
🎋 In 2 years, it can reverse soil erosion by 70%. Its root system
consolidates the soil
underlying and avoids landslides
🎋 Resist
at high temperatures
(-30 ° C to 36 ° C)
(-30 ° C to 36 ° C)
🎋 Produced up to
35% oxygen
more than the trees
🎋 More
sustainable
:
A primary forest ➙ 60 years old.
A primary forest ➙ 60 years old.
A bamboo plantation ➙ harvest between 3 and 5 years old.
Lifespan of a bamboo plantation ➙ 150 years
🎋 Yield of bamboo plantations 25 times higher than that of traditional tree plantations
🎋 Hard wood, comparable to oak and walnut
🎋Good
moisture resistance
