In China, people use bamboo to make plumbing pipes and even woven cushions. On Sumatra, they craft it into snuff boxes, mats, and hats, while Malaysians use it as flooring for their huts. Residents of the Pacific Islands build masts and sails for their boats out of bamboo. On the island of Java, earthen mounds around villages are reinforced with bamboo weaving. Bamboo is also used to make paper and many other everyday items.
Bamboo is an incredibly useful plant. But the most remarkable thing is that many bamboo species don’t flower for decades—some can live up to 120 years before blooming. When they finally do flower, it’s disastrous for the community: the bamboo groves die shortly after flowering…
It’s unclear whether countries that rely on bamboo for food, clothing, and construction have long searched for ways to extend bamboo groves’ lives. But in our country, scientists worked on the problem. Soviet researchers found a way to prolong a grove’s productive life: cut the entire bamboo stand down just before it flowers, destroy the young shoots, and chop the root system into pieces. That treatment lets the grove start a new growth cycle.
