Bambusa vulgaris
Bambusa vulgaris, common bamboo, is an open-clump type bamboo species. It is native to Indochina and to the province of Yunnan in southern China, but it has been widely cultivated in many other places and has become naturalized in several regions. Among bamboo species, it is one of the largest and most easily recognized.
Description
Bambusa vulgaris forms moderately loose clumps and has no thorns. It has lemon-yellow culms with green stripes and dark green leaves. Stems are not straight, not easy to split, inflexible, thick-walled, and initially strong. The densely tufted culms grow high and thick.Culms are basally straight or flexuose, drooping at the tips. Culm walls are slightly thick.
Nodes are slightly inflated. Internodes are. Several branches develop from mid-culm nodes and above. Culm leaves are deciduous with dense pubescence. Leaf blades are narrowly lanceolate.
Flowering is not common, and there are no seeds. Fruits are rare due to low pollen viability caused by irregular meiosis. At the interval of several decades, the whole population of an area blooms at once, and individual stems bear a large number of flowers. Vegetation propagates through clump division, by rhizome, stem and branch cutting, layering, and marcotting. The easiest and most practised cultivation method is culm or branch cutting. In the Philippines, the best results were obtained from one-node cuttings from the lower parts of six-month-old culms. When a stem dies, the clump usually survives. A clump can grow out of stem used for poles, fences, props, stakes, or posts. Its rhizomes extend up to 80 cm before turning upward to create open, fast-spreading clumps. The easy propagation of B. vulgaris explains its seemingly wild occurrence.
The average chemical composition is cellulose 41–44%, pentosans 21–23%, lignin 26–28%, ash 1.7–1.9%, and silica 0.6–0.7%.
Taxonomy
The bambusoid taxa have long been considered the most "primitive" grasses, mostly because of the presence of bracts, indeterminate inflorescences, pseudospikelets, and flowers with three lodicules, six stamens, and three stigmas. Bamboos are some of the fastest growing plants in the world.B. vulgaris is a species of the large genus Bambusa of the clumping bamboo tribe Bambuseae, which are found largely in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, especially in the wet tropics. The pachymorph rhizome system of clumping bamboos expands horizontally by only a short distance each year. The shoots emerge in a tight or open habit, depending on the species; common bamboo has open groups. Regardless of the degree of openness of each species' clumping habit, none of the clumpers are considered invasive. New culms can only form at the very tip of the rhizome. The Bambuseae are a group of perennial evergreens in subfamily Bambusoideae, characterized by having three stigmata and tree-like behavior, that are in turn of the true grass family Poaceae.
Cultivars
At least three groupings of B. vulgaris cultivars can be distinguished:- Plants with green stems
- Golden bamboo : Plants always with yellow stems and often with green stripes of different intensity. Usually the stems have thicker walls than those of the green stem group. This group is often distinguished as Bambusa vulgaris var. striata.
- Buddha's belly bamboo: Plants with stems up to about tall, in diameter, green, with -long inflated internodes in the lower part. This group is often distinguished as B. v. var. wamin.
- 'Aureovariegata' : With rich golden yellow culms striped in green, sometimes in very thin lines, it is the most common variety of B. vulgaris.
- 'Striata' : A common variety, smaller in size than other varieties, with bright yellow internodes and random markings with longitudinal stripes in light and deep green.
- 'Wamin' : It is smaller in size than other varieties with short and flattened internodes. Likely to have originated in South China, 'Wamin' bamboo is spread throughout East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. Basally inflated internodes give it a unique appearance.
- 'Vittata' : A common variety that grows up to tall, it has barcode-like striping in green.
- 'Kimmei': Culms yellow, striped with green
- 'Maculata': Green culms mottled with black, turning mostly black with aging
- 'Wamin Striata': Grows up to tall, light green striped in dark green, with swollen lower internodes
Distribution and habitat
Popular as a hothouse plant by the 1700s, it was one of the earliest bamboo species introduced into Europe. It is believed to have been introduced to Hawaii in the time of Captain James Cook, and is the most popular ornamental plant there. B. vulgaris is widely cultivated in the USA and Puerto Rico, apparently since introduction by Spaniards in 1840. It may have been the first foreign species introduced into the United States by Europeans.
Ecology
B. vulgaris grows mostly on river banks, road sides, wastelands, and open ground, generally in the low altitudes. It is a preferred species for erosion control. It grows best under humid conditions, but can tolerate unfavorable conditions like low temperatures and drought. Though adoptable to a wide range of soils, common bamboo grows more vigorously on moist soils. It can tolerate frost down to, and can grow on ground up to above sea level, though in higher altitudes stems grow shorter and thinner. In extreme droughts, it may defoliate completely.Pests
The two major threats to the species are small bamboo borers, which as adults bore stems in India, China, Philippines, Australia, and Japan, and bamboo weevils, which destroy shoots during their larval stage in South China. Other pests include leaf blight, basal culm rot, culm sheath rot, leaf rust, and leaf spots. In Bangladesh, bamboo blight caused by Sarocladium oryzae is a serious disease.Uses
Common bamboo has a wide variety of uses, including the stems used as fuel and the leaves used as fodder, though a large amount of ingestion of leaves is known to cause neurological disorder among horses. The worldwide production and trade of B. vulgaris is considerable, though no statistics are available. It also has some disadvantages. Working and machining properties of the stems are poor, as they are not straight, not easy to split, and not flexible, but they are thick-walled and initially strong. Because of high carbohydrate content, stems are susceptible to attacks from fungi and insects such as powderpost beetles. Protection from biological threats is essential for long-term use.B. v. var. striata is used as ornamental solitary or as border hedge. Its shoots boiled in water are sometimes used for medicinal qualities. Cultivated around the world, it is generally found in East, Southeast, and South Asia. B. v. f. waminii is cultivated in the US and Europe in addition to Asia. B. v. f. vittata is the most popular variety as an ornamental plant, and is considered to be very beautiful. The 'Kimmei' cultivar is mostly cultivated in Japan.
Ornamental
It is widely used as an ornamental plant, and is very popular as that. It often is planted as fences and border hedges. It is also planted a measure for erosion control.Construction
The stems or culms of B. vulgaris are used for fencing and construction, especially of small, temporary shelters, including flooring, roof tiles, panelling, and walls made wither with culms or split stems. The culm is used to make many parts of boats including masts, rudders, outriggers, and boating poles. It also is used to make furniture, basketry, windbreakers, flutes, fishing rods, tool handles, stakes, weapons, bows for fishing nets, smoking pipes, irrigation pipes, distillation pipes, and more.It is used as raw material for paper pulp, especially in India. Paper made from B. vulgaris has exceptional tear strength, comparable to paper made of softwood. It can also be used to make particle boards and flexible packaging grade paper.
Food
Young shoots of the plant, cooked or pickled, are edible and eaten throughout Asia. Yellow shoots remain buttercup yellow after cooking. A decoction of the growing tips is mixed with Job's tears to make a refreshing drink in Mauritius. The shoots are tender and whitish pink, and have a fair canning quality.A serving of young shoots of green-stem cultivars has 90 g of water, 2.6 g of protein, 4.1 g of fat, 0.4 g of digestible carbohydrates, 1.1 g of insoluble dietary fiber, 22.8 mg of calcium, 37 mg of phosphorus, 1.1 mg of iron, and 3.1 mg of ascorbic acid. A serving of young shoots of yellow-stem cultivars has 88 g of water, 1.8 g of protein, 7.2 g of fat, 0.0 g of digestible carbohydrates, 1.2 grams of insoluble fiber, 28.6 mg of calcium, 27.5 mg of phosphorus, and 1.4 mg of iron.