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Introduction

Bamboo is just grass, but it varies in height from dwarf, one foot (30 cm) plants to giant timber bamboos that can grow to over 100 feet (30 m). It grows in many different climates, from jungles to high on mountainsides. Bamboos are further classified by the types of roots they have. Some, called runners, spread exuberantly, and others are classified as clumpers, which slowly expand from the original planting. There are also varieties of root systems that are a mixture of these types. Generally, the tropical bamboos tend to be clumpers and the temperate bamboos tend to be runners.

Bamboo is both decorative and useful. In many parts of the world it is food, fodder, the primary construction material and is used for making great variety of useful objects from kitchen tools, to paper to dinnerware. The Species Source List contains a listing of the bamboos that are commonly used for furniture, construction, musical instruments and many more things.

The species most-often identified with the giant panda is Gelidocalamus fangianus, but Fargesia spathacea, Sinarundinaria chungii, Sinarundinaria nitida, and Sinarundinaria fangiana are common bamboos in the panda's home range.

There is a lot of confusion in the naming of bamboos. There are both common names, which vary from place to place, even within one country; and there are the botanical names, which vary less from place to place, but are still not well-standardized. For a explanation of why this is, Gib Cooper has written a short discussion of the taxonomy problem.

Taxonomy

Botanically, bamboo is classified thusly:

KINGDOM: Plantae

PHYLUM (DIVISION): Magnoliophyta

CLASS: Liliopsida

SUBCLASS: Commelinidae

ORDER: Cyperales

FAMILY: Gramineae (Poaceae)

SUBFAMILY: Bambusoideae

TRIBE: Bambuseae

SUBTRIBE: bambusinae

The Class, Subclass, and Order classifications are according to Cronquist (1988). The levels below Order can vary depending on whose classification you use. The ones shown above are widely accepted.

For a thorough treatment of monocots as a whole see: Dahlgren, R. et al. 1985. The Families of the Monocotyledons: structure, evolution, and taxonomy. Springer-Verlag: Berlin.

• The International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) is an excellent and exhaustive source of information about every aspect of bamboo.
• General information about planting and caring for bamboo.
• What to do when bamboo flowers.
• Information on bamboo mites, and what to do about them.
• Washington State University Extension Service researchers Beverly S. Gerdeman and Lynell K. Tanigoshi have produced a report on the biology and management bamboo mites in the Pacific Northwest . It's a free download inAdobe Readerformat.
• There are some species of mealy bugs which can damage bamboos. This is especially a problem in Florida.
• Information on hardy bamboo species, and a lot more!
• What to do when you want to remove that bamboo, by George Shor.
• Dr. Lynn Clark of Iowa State University has a Web page devoted to "the diversity, taxonomy, and evolution of bamboos". There are also links to other useful sources of information.
• Growing Bamboo in the Northeastern U.S., by Paul Schneider.
• Wim Masman has the definitive list of synonyms for bamboo. If a variety of bamboo has ever been called something, Wim knows.
• Michel H. Porcher, of the Institute of Land and Food Resources at the The University of Melbourne, is collecting the names of various kinds of bamboo in many different languages. He already has a very impressive collection of bamboo names in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Thai, Malay and Nepalese. It’s an interesting endeavor, please have a look here.
• Washington State University Extension Service has produced the report "On-Farm Bamboo Production in the Pacific Northwest." You will need Adobe Reader to view the report.
• Marc Solioz and Max Woodtly have a page about the flowering of Fargesia murielae. It includes a nice picture of a bamboo flower and there are some nice pencil drawings by Marc near the bottom of the page. Stan Lynx has a Web site full of pictures of bamboo.
• Growing Bamboo in Georgia by David Linvill, Chatham County Extension Agent
• Milo Clark has written a more philosophical introduction to bamboo
• Bamboo Businesses in China - helps you locate bamboo resources in China.
• Dr. Fu Jinhe of INBAR says they, also, will try to help businesses outside of China locate Chinese businesses that deal in bamboo products. Please read the INBAR description for the address to write to.
• Cornell University has a Web site about biological controls, that might be of interest to bamboo growers. They say:

  “This guide provides photographs and descriptions of biological control (or biocontrol) agents of insect, disease and weed pests in North America. It is also a tutorial on the concept and practice of biological control and integrated pest management (IPM). Whether you are an educator, a commercial grower, a student, a researcher, a land manager, or an extension or regulatory agent, we hope you will find this information useful. The guide currently includes individual pages of approximately 100 natural enemies of pest species, and we envision continued expansion. On each of these pages you will see photographs, descriptions of the life cycles and habits, and other useful information about each natural enemy. ”

The PNW Bamboo Agroforestry Workshops

• The proceedings of the 1997 workshop are now available
• The proceedings of the 1994 workshop are now available