How tall can a grass grow? When we think of grass, the picture of bamboo never comes to our mind, because of its height.
However, the world’s tallest grass is bamboo. Bamboos sometimes grow to a height about 25 metres. Do you know that the tallest bamboo in the world was found in Kerala? The bamboo stalk was discovered at Pattazhi, in the kollam district, in 1904. It was 37 metres tall! Some bamboos grow as tall as huge trees, whereas some varieties grow only a few inches tall. Bamboos grow very fast too. Some varieties grow up to a metre a day!
The most important use of bamboo is in making furniture and in building houses. The grass is used for making many other things, such as fence posts, bridges, fishing poles, water pipes and musical instruments. In China, tall bamboos are used for the construction of strong walls that can withstand flood and tide and bridges up to 260 metres long. The stems of bamboos are split into strips and they can be woven into rugs, mats, fishing nets, cloth, baskets, and bedding.
The stems are used in agriculture as they can be used as plant stakes. Bamboo shoots are edible and people use them as food.
The Chinese used the word bamboo the first time when they made paper from wood pulp about 2,000 years ago. India and Burma use bamboo extensively for the manufacture of paper today.
Picture Credit : Google