September/October 1984 RAIN Page 9 Bamboo in Everyday Life by Tanya Kucak Bamboo is probably the most useful plant in the world. Scholars have listed over 1000 uses for bamboo. "For over half of our species, life would be completely different without it," writes Mary Vogel. At the exhibit "China, 7000 Years of Discovery," which was at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle March 1 to August 31, 1984, one exhibit case shows a wealth of items made from bamboo. The accompanying text states, "Every part of the bamboo is used: Young shoots are eaten, the pulp is used to make paper, the stems are split and woven to serve as baskets, the leaves are used for thatch and raincoats; brews made from the seeds, leaves, sap, and roots have medicinal applications." There are "suspension" bridges in China, made from bamboo, that have lasted more than 1000 years. In most bamboos, the woody culm, or stalk, is hollow. The stalk is divided by nodes, which add strength. Bamboo is strong, light, stiff, and cheap, and it is easy to work with simple tools. Bamboos range in size from a few inches to 120 feet tall and a foot or more in diameter, and they also vary widely in shape and color. Bamboo is abundant and fast-growing. It occurs naturally on every continent except Europe and Antarctica. Where it grows, it grows like a weed, since it propagates itself by producing rhizomes that branch out from the parent plant, forming underground networks. There are about 1000 species of bamboo. (When bamboo flowers—once every 30 to 120 years, depending on the species—all the plants of the same species flower at almost the same time everywhere in the world. The plants die after they flower, but surviving rhizomes and seeds reestablish the grove within five years.) As a bonus, bamboo propagates itself rapidly. The culm emerges from the rhizome with the same diameter as the adult stalk, reaches full growth in two to three months, and is harvestable in three to four years. In fact, bamboo grows so fast you can almost watch it grow. Japan's commonest bamboo, Phyllostachys bambu- soides, can grow almost four feet in 24 hours. Moreover, bamboo is an abundant material that has been used well and beautifully. Many things, if they are abundant, are taken for granted, and people don't put much thought into their use. Petroleum and weeds are two examples of wasted resources. Yet although bamboo grows like a weed, people have found ways to use it well and even reverently. Richard Gage expands upon the importance of bamboo to the Japanese in his essay in Forms, Textures,
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