Bamboo
๐ In short
Bamboo is a giant plant in the grass family, like wheat and barley, but very tall, sometimes more than 30 meters! Its stems are hollow, woody and strong, divided into joints, and it grows amazingly fast.
๐คฉ Did you know?
- A bamboo shoot can grow about 90 centimeters in 24 hours.
- There are more than 700 kinds of bamboo.
- A bamboo stem can be 30 centimeters across.
- Some kinds of bamboo flower only once every more than 100 years.
๐ Find out more
๐ The fastest plant in the world
Some kinds of bamboo grow about a whole meter in one day! If you sat beside it and watched for a long time, you could almost see it growing.
๐ Strong and light
A bamboo stem is hollow but very strong, so in Asia people build houses, bridges and scaffolding from it, and make furniture, baskets and tools.
๐ก Panda food
Bamboo is the giant panda's favorite food, and it eats huge amounts every day. People also eat the tender young shoots in Asian cooking.
๐ฏ It rarely flowers
Bamboo rarely flowers: some kinds flower only once every few decades, and all the plants of the same kind flower at about the same time everywhere!
๐ธ More pictures
๐งฉ Test yourself
1 Bamboo belongs to the family of:
2 Which animal loves eating bamboo?
3 There are more than ?? kinds of bamboo.
4 Which picture shows โBambooโ?
๐ณ Discover more
๐ท Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons
- Kamakura ยท CC BY-SA 3.0
- Naokijp ยท CC BY-SA 4.0
- ๆทฑ้ธฃ ยท CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lance Vanlewen ยท CC BY-SA 4.0
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