Bamboo is a golden bachelor, reproducing sexually once every 130 years

I first learned about the name of Phyllostachys bambusoides when I read the description in the Classic of Mountains and Seas: "There are no plants in the mountains, but there are Phyllostachys bambusoides, which are very poisonous and can kill people if they are injured ." Although I know that it is difficult to verify the authenticity of the Classic of Mountains and Seas, when I saw that there is indeed Phyllostachys bambusoides Sieb. et Zucc. under the genus Phyllostachys , I was still very curious about the "poison" of this bamboo. Later, I saw an explanation: "It is sharp enough to stab a tiger, and if it is hit, it will die." This shows that this bamboo is tough, and "very poisonous" mainly means that it is suitable for making lethal weapons , and it has a long history of being processed and used by humans.

Guizhu | Marco Schmidt/Wikimedia Commons

There are many aliases of Pleioblastus styracifolius listed in the Atlas of Chinese Bamboo Plants, such as May-rose Bamboo, Pleioblastus styracifolius, Pleioblastus styracifolius, Pleioblastus styracifolius, Pleioblastus styracifolius, etc. However, the latter two aliases are easily confused with the original Pleioblastus genus and Fargesia genus. As one of the most widely distributed timber bamboo species in the Yellow River Basin and south of it, it has been closely related to people's lives since ancient times.

The "iron-headed bamboo" is not "iron-headed"

For most people, it is really difficult to distinguish the three tribes, about 123 genera, and more than 1,400 species of bamboo in the world. The laurel bamboo is in line with people's basic understanding of bamboo: the culm is usually 11-20 meters high, 8-10 centimeters in diameter, tall and tough, with green branches and leaves, and rustling in the wind. The leaves on the upper part of the laurel bamboo are lush, and the ancients vividly described it as "dense on the top to prevent dew, sparse on the bottom to catch the wind."

Each node on the upper part of the bamboo stalk has two branches, and the stalk ring and sheath ring of each node are raised (there are two rings very close to each other on each node of the bamboo stalk, the upper ring is called the "stalk ring" and the lower ring is called the "sheath ring", and there is a wooden horizontal partition between the two ring marks). In addition, the surface of the bamboo stalk of the newly grown Phyllostachys pubescens does not have "hair" and white powder (wax deposits secreted by cells) like the bamboo stalk of Phyllostachys moso, so it can be identified by this feature.

Raised bamboo joints | Green / Wikimedia Commons

Ancient people summarized the uses of bamboo, including "bamboo shoots for food, bamboo tiles for shelter, bamboo rafts for transportation, bamboo firewood for cooking, bamboo skin for clothing, bamboo paper for writing, and bamboo shoes for shoes". Except for the bitter taste of bamboo shoots, which may not be suitable for eating, the bamboo shoots of Guizhu can be used for other purposes . The shoots of Guizhu are produced around the fifth month of the lunar calendar when wheat is ripe, which is later than other bamboos. It is easy to be damaged by insect pests, so it is nicknamed "rotten head Gui". The name "wheat yellow bamboo" is also derived from the time when the shoots are produced.

The longest flowering interval of all bamboo species discovered so far is about 130 years . Observations have found that when the flowering time of bamboo arrives, the same species will bloom and bear fruit at the same time and then die regardless of geographical location or climatic conditions. The principle of this phenomenon has not yet been determined.

Bamboo shoots sold in Japan | Uo3rt / Wikimedia Commons

Calendar Girl's Tips

Calendar Lady: The flowering cycle of the bamboo is 130 years (some say 120 years). This does not mean that the bamboo will bloom, produce seeds, and die when it reaches 130 years old. In fact, the average lifespan of the underground stem of the bamboo is only 10 years . When the flowering period of 130 years arrives, all bamboos, regardless of age, bloom together. Of course, there are also many bamboos that never catch up with this flowering period in their entire lives. Interestingly, the bamboo transplanted overseas , such as in the UK and Japan, also follows this 130-year flowering cycle , which can be said to be a common moment for people all over the world.

Since it is rare to see bamboo bloom and bear fruit, it was often considered an ominous sign in ancient times. The Taiping Guangji records the situation of bamboo bearing fruit during the drought in the Tang Dynasty: In the year of Jiazi in the Tang Dynasty, there was a severe drought within thousands of miles. Suddenly, bamboos in the mountains began to bear seeds , and the hungry people relied on them for their livelihood, saving countless lives. The bamboos in the valleys and paths died immediately. Those who had food at home vomited and were poisoned after eating it. Bamboo rice is not poisonous. The legend probably emphasized that "it is food to relieve the hungry people" and gave it a mysterious color.

Su Shi wrote in a letter to his friend Wang Junquan: "There is a purple bamboo sedan chair, but no pole. I want to ask for two branches of small laurel bamboo that are weathered and tight." This shows how widely laurel bamboo is used. The picture shows the sedan chair in "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" | Wikimedia Commons

It is difficult to paint a tortoise shell pattern.

In the era of "BBS", "banzhu" (homonym of "moderator") was once a fashionable word, but now it has faded from the stage of history like "偶呮湜个伝説". Before that, people's understanding of "banzhu" mainly came from the Xiaoxiang Pavilion in "Dream of Red Mansions", where "phoenix tails are dense, dragons roar faintly, and thousands of green bamboos are shaded".

The spotted bamboo (P. bambusoides f. lacrima-deae Keng f.et Wen) is a variation of the Phyllostachys laurelii. Its most distinctive feature is the purple-brown spots on the stalks and branches. It has long been a famous ornamental bamboo. The ancients also combined it with the legend of the goddess of the Xiang River: " The two daughters of Yao and the two concubines of Shun were called Xiang Ladies. When the emperor died, the two concubines cried and waved their tears on the bamboo, and the bamboo became spotted." Therefore, other names of the spotted bamboo are often related to the story of Ehuang and Nvying. "Xiang Fei Bamboo" and "Tear Bamboo" both come from this. The names of utensils made of spotted bamboo are also often related to the "Xiang River", such as Xiang pipe, Xiang curtain, Xiang mat (diàn), etc.

Bamboo | Farm / Wikimedia Commons

The image of bamboo in poetry is very sad: "The silk of ice silkworms is broken, the bamboo of Xiang Fei dies and the sky cracks", "Chang'e's shadow is broken and the frost wheel is cold, the emperor's son has no trace and the bamboo is full of tears". The tear marks on the bamboo also echo the "Xiaoxiang Concubine" in "Dream of Red Mansions", which is Lin Daiyu's nickname " Xiaoxiang Concubine " and its predecessor is "Returning Tears".

Speculations on "Thousands of Acres of Bamboo in Weichuan" and "Bamboo in Qiyuan"

Phyllostachys laurelii is a bamboo with excellent cold resistance. The Shandong Academy of Forestry once conducted a comprehensive statistics and evaluation on the cold resistance and survival rate of 31 ornamental bamboos planted in Jinan and Weihai from 2014 to 2015, and Phyllostachys laurelii ranked first.

In ancient China, the Weishui River Basin and the Qishui River Basin in the north were important bamboo producing areas. Although there is no clear record of the bamboo species, it is likely that the main bamboo was laurel bamboo. The "Records of the Grand Historian" records that " there are thousands of acres of bamboo in the Wei River , and the people there are equal to the marquis of a thousand households." The "Book of Songs" also started with "Looking at the Qi River, the green bamboos are lush and lush." ​​From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, all dynasties set up a special "Si Bamboo Garden" in Zhuo (zhōu) (now Zhouzhi, Shaanxi) near the Weishui River.

Another variant of the osmanthus bamboo, P. bambusoides var.castillonis ( Marliace x Carriere ) Makino, also known as "Golden Jasper", is also a common ornamental bamboo. Its characteristic is that the bamboo poles are golden yellow, and there are several green vertical stripes between the bamboo nodes and on one side of the branches | Pixabay

The bamboos growing in the Qishui River Basin are even more famous in history. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered Ji Ren and Guo Chang to govern the Huzi River, a tributary of the Yellow River, they "cut bamboos from the Qi Garden to make bolts", that is, they cut down bamboos from the Qi Garden to block the breach of the river; the Eastern Han general Kou Xun once ordered people to make millions of arrows from bamboos along the Qishui River, "cut bamboos in the Qichuan River, and obtained more than one million arrows to transport military supplies", which shows how many bamboo forests there were. Later, with the arrival of several small ice ages in history, the climate and environment were affected in many aspects, and the bamboo-producing areas gradually moved southward. Today , it is difficult to see lush natural bamboo forests north of the Yellow River, and only some place names related to bamboo remain.

Kuebi Bamboo Whip | Kuebi/Wikimedia Commons

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward