How to propagate bamboo fern (Bambusa multiplex)? Master 3 steps of division and cutting to increase success rate
Propagation is a very important step in the process of growing bamboo fern. If the method is appropriate, the plant can be divided into two or even more after propagation. If the method is wrong, it will not only cause the new plants to fail to survive, but can also cause the mother plant to die. So how do you propagate bamboo fern? Let's take a look at the correct propagation methods for bamboo fern
Propagation is a very important step in the process of growing bamboo fern. If the method is appropriate, the plant can be divided into two or even more after propagation. If the method is wrong, it will not only cause the new plants to fail to survive, but can also cause the mother plant to die. So how do you propagate bamboo fern? Let's take a look at the correct propagation methods for bamboo fern.
How to propagate bamboo fern
Usually, three methods are used to propagate bamboo fern: division, cutting, and sowing. If it is a home potted plant for ornamental purposes, experts recommend division or cutting. If it is large-scale planting, then sowing can propagate many plants at once.
1. How to divide potted bamboo fern
1. Best time
Division should be carried out between February and March, because the subsequent temperature changes must be taken into account. April to May is when the temperature is most suitable for new plants to resume growth, so this is the best time.
2. Division method
①. Division is the simplest operation among the propagation methods of bamboo fern. So how do you propagate bamboo fern by division? First, select a mother plant from robust 1-2 year old bamboo fern.
②. Dig out the mother plant together with the underground rhizome and soil, then separate the plant, and afterward divide the plants. Generally, 3-4 plants form one clump. The entire process is carried out with soil attached.
③. Plant the separated plants separately. Fill part of the pot with garden soil, pour in clean water, and stir vigorously to make it into mud. Then insert the divided bamboo seedlings into the mud, fill with soil and firm it, and build a mound of soil around the planted bamboo that is low in the middle and high on the outside.
2. Cutting propagation method for bamboo fern
1. Time
The timing for cuttings is relatively flexible and can be done from April to September. After October, you should consider waiting until the next year to take cuttings, because winter temperatures are lower and the plants are difficult to keep alive after cutting.
2. Specific method
①. During the growing season, choose robust branches. Keep the entire top shoot with buds and leaves and cut it off as a cutting, generally 10-15 cm long.
②. Insert the cutting into a sand bed to a depth of one-half or one-third of the sand bed depth, then water. Be sure to water thoroughly to ensure both the upper and lower parts of the sand bed are moist.
③. Pay attention to heat preservation and moisture retention. The rooting time of cutting propagation varies with climate, generally 30-60 days. For example, cuttings taken in September may need 60 days to root, while in the plum rain season in May they need only 30 days to root.
3. Sowing propagation
Among the propagation methods of bamboo fern, sowing is suitable for large-scale planting. It can propagate dozens or even hundreds of plants at one time, but experts do not recommend this method for home potted bamboo fern because its survival rate is not as good as the previous two methods.
If sowing is used, how do you propagate bamboo fern? The time is generally chosen in April to May each year. Soak the selected seeds in warm water for 24-48 hours, then sow them on a sand bed. After that, pay attention to moisture retention and heat preservation. They can germinate after 40 days, and it takes 6 months for the seedlings to grow large enough to be transplanted.
Bamboo Bambusoideae Bamboo guide: how to grow bamboo / how to propagate bamboo
Bamboo profileBamboo Bambusoideae
Alias: bamboo
Classification: perennial herbaceous flower
Family and genus: Plantae, Angiosperms, Monocotyledons, Poales, Poaceae, Bamboo genus
Full bloom period: does not bloom
Bamboo is a giant grass and a plant in the grass family. It is an evergreen (a few bamboo species lose their leaves in the dry season) shallow-rooted plant. The stem is generally cylindrical and jointed; however, one type, square bamboo, has a square culm. Bamboo is one of the important forest resources, with characteristics such as wide distribution, fast growth, many uses, and high ecological and economic value. It is known as the "green gold mine." Bamboo is also called zhu, a perennial grass plant with woody stems, and is a branch of the grass family. Its scientific name is Bambusoideae (Bambusaceae or Bamboo), and it is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, East Asia, ...
Bamboo cultivation methods and precautions Bamboo introduction
Bamboo is a giant grass and a plant in the grass family. It is an evergreen (a few bamboo species lose their leaves in the dry season) shallow-rooted plant. The stem is generally cylindrical and jointed; however, one type, square bamboo, has a square culm. Bamboo is one of the important forest resources, with characteristics such as wide distribution, fast growth, many uses, and high ecological and economic value. It is known as the "green gold mine."
Bamboo is also called zhu, a perennial grass plant with woody stems, and is a branch of the grass family. Its scientific name is Bambusoideae (Bambusaceae or Bamboo). It is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, with the most concentrated distribution in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the islands of the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. There are many species; some are as short as grass, while others are as tall as large trees, and they grow rapidly. They usually grow in patches through underground creeping rhizomes, and can also reproduce by flowering and setting seed. The seeds are called bamboo rice. The bamboo shoots of some species can be eaten. Bamboo branches and culms are upright and slender, green in all four seasons, and resistant to frost and rain. They are greatly loved by Chinese people. Together with plum, orchid, and chrysanthemum, they are called the Four Gentlemen; together with plum and pine, they are called the Three Friends of Winter. Many literati, ancient and modern, love bamboo and praise it.
Morphological characteristics of bamboo
Bamboo is a tall tree-like grass plant. More than 70 genera and over 1,000 species have been recorded, but many of these are synonyms. Bamboo is a tall, fast-growing grass plant with woody stems. It is distributed from tropical and subtropical to warm temperate regions. It is most concentrated and has the greatest variety in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the islands of the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. The aboveground stem of bamboo is woody and hollow (what we call the culm), and grows in clusters from the underground stem (rhizome).
The shortest bamboo species has culms 10 to 15 cm tall, while the largest bamboo species has culms more than 40 m tall. Mature bamboo produces horizontal branches. The leaves are sword-shaped and have petioles. The leaves of young plants grow directly from the stem. Although the culms of some species grow rapidly (0.3 m per day), most species flower and set seed only after growing for 12 to 120 years. Bamboo flowers and sets seed only once in its life.
The underground stem of bamboo (commonly called the bamboo rhizome) grows horizontally, is slightly hollow in the middle, and also has nodes that are numerous and dense. Many fibrous roots and buds grow on the nodes. Some buds develop into bamboo shoots that emerge from the ground and grow into bamboo, while other buds do not emerge from the ground but grow horizontally and develop into new underground stems. Therefore, bamboo grows in patches and groves. Young bamboo rhizomes and bamboo shoots can be eaten.
In autumn and winter, bamboo buds have not yet emerged from the ground. When dug out at this time, they are called winter shoots; in spring, when the bamboo shoots emerge from the ground, they are called spring shoots. Both winter shoots and spring shoots are common foods in Chinese cuisine. In spring, bamboo buds wait in dry soil for spring rain. If a rain falls, the spring shoots will emerge from the ground very quickly.
Although people often call bamboo a tree, it is a herbaceous plant with underdeveloped xylem. Bamboo leaves are narrowly lanceolate, 7.5-16 cm long and 1-2 cm wide, with a gradually pointed tip and a blunt base. The petiole is about 5 mm long. One side of the margin is relatively smooth, while the other side is rough with small serrations; the veins are parallel, with 6-8 pairs of secondary veins, and the small transverse veins are very conspicuous; the leaf surface is dark green and hairless, while the underside is lighter in color and slightly hairy at the base; the texture is thin and rather brittle. Bamboo shoots are 10 to 30 cm long, and the number of nodes on a mature bamboo culm is generally between 10 and 15.
Most bamboos have underground rhizomes with obvious nodes, and buds grow at each node. The buds on each node of the underground stem can sprout into underground horizontally running bamboo rhizomes or aboveground culms. The buds on the culm nodes often form branches at each node. The leaves on the branches are vegetative leaves, lanceolate, with short petioles.
In some areas, there are also clumping bamboos whose underground stems form multi-noded false rhizomes, with no buds or roots on the nodes, and the terminal buds emerge from the ground to form culms. The entire plant grows and is distributed in clumps, typically such as bamboo fern, sinocalamus affinis, Dendrocalamus latiflorus, and hedge bamboo. They generally grow in areas with relatively sufficient water and heat conditions.
Bamboo is also the fastest-growing plant in the world. The hollow aboveground stems of some bamboos can grow 40 cm per day, and after full growth can reach a height of 35-40 m. The reason bamboo grows quickly is that its stems and branches are divided into nodes, so while other plants have only the apical meristem growing, bamboo grows at every node at the same time. However, as bamboo continues to grow, the sheath wrapping the outside of the bamboo nodes falls off, and the height growth of the bamboo stops, but the internal tissue growth and filling continue. It is widely distributed and easy to keep alive.
Bamboo differs greatly from ordinary trees. The aboveground part of bamboo is composed of jointed culms, branches, and leaves. The base of the culm connects to the underground stem, and the underground stem is also jointed. The slender roots on the nodes of the underground stem are called fibrous roots and are the true roots. The tensile strength and load-bearing capacity of bamboo are 1-3 times those of ordinary trees, and it also has good elasticity, making it an excellent building material. As early as the Han Dynasty in China, bamboo began to be used as a raw material for papermaking; moso bamboo, because of its unique fine and even texture and hard texture, is very suitable for producing flooring and other decorative boards. Bamboo can of course also be made into commonly used bamboo cutting boards, bamboo mats, bamboo beds, bamboo cabinets, bamboo chairs, etc. In addition, bamboo can also be used to make musical instruments, such as sheng, guan, and xiao; bamboo woven handicrafts are also dazzling in variety and highly ornamental. Crisp, sweet bamboo shoots can also be eaten, and bamboo can also be used as medicine. Among more than 1,200 kinds of bamboo, moso bamboo is one of the excellent timber bamboo species; its texture is hard, and its surface texture is elegant and beautiful, making it the best decorative material in the new century.
Bamboo grows quickly. Some can grow more than one meter within a single day, and can fully develop in just two or three months. After that, it no longer grows taller or thicker, and keeps this size until it dies. The life cycle of bamboo is not long, only a few years. When bamboo grows old, it will flower and then die. This is to eliminate old bamboo and preserve new plants, so as to promote the growth vitality of the bamboo grove, but bamboos often flower and die together.
Ecological habits of bamboo
For bamboo, the suitable or relatively suitable climate has an annual average temperature of 12 to 22°C, an average January temperature of 5 to 10°C, and an extreme minimum temperature of -20°C; annual precipitation of 1000 to 2000 mm, and an annual average relative humidity of 65% to 82%. North China, however, has a typical continental climate, with severe cold in winter and intense heat in summer. Although there is more rainfall in July and August, the annual average precipitation is only 500 to 600 mm, so it is not an ideal climate condition for bamboo growth. Therefore, relatively cold-resistant scattered bamboo varieties should be selected, such as yellow-groove bamboo, gold-and-jade bamboo, yellow-culm Beijing bamboo, black bamboo, and early garden bamboo. The above varieties not only have strong cold resistance, but also have many successful experiences in northern garden construction that can be referenced.
Bamboo is a perennial monocarpic plant. Bamboo flowering is a normal natural phenomenon and belongs to the process of bamboo seed reproduction. Ancient Chinese people observed this phenomenon long ago. More than 2,000 years ago, the Classic of Mountains and Seas recorded: "When bamboo produces flowers, it withers that year." In the Jin Dynasty, Dai Kai's Bamboo Manual stated: "Medicine must be sixty, and again also six years.
"Its annotation is: "Bamboo also changes roots at sixty years; when it changes roots, it bears fruit and dies." However, bamboo mainly reproduces asexually. Every spring, shoots grow from the underground bamboo rhizome and then develop into new bamboo. The bamboo rhizome is not its root, but an underground stem. Underground stems can be divided into three types: the monopodial type can continue growing, with buds borne on both sides, and the lateral buds develop into shoots; in the sympodial type, the terminal bud develops into a shoot, and the lateral buds produce new underground stems, which connect to form a sympodium. The underground stems produce culms that are densely clustered. Yuzhu bamboo and Huajuzhu bamboo, which giant pandas like to eat, belong to this category; in addition, there is a amphipodial type, which is a mixed type of the above two. The sexual reproduction of bamboo is like that of other flowering plants: it first flowers, then sets seed, completing the entire growth cycle. The flowering cycle of bamboo also has three types depending on the bamboo species: a few bamboos can flower every year, and after flowering the culms do not die and can still send out rhizomes and grow shoots; most bamboos flower only once in the entire growth process, and at a certain cycle ranging from 40 to 80 years. After flowering, the culms and leaves turn yellow and die in patches, and the underground stems gradually turn black and lose their sprouting ability. The seeds produced, the so-called bamboo rice, germinate and grow after sowing and can then grow into new bamboo. Arrow bamboo and Huajuzhu bamboo belong to this type; another type flowers sporadically at irregular intervals, and after flowering the bamboo grove does not die, for example, sinocalamus affinis is one of them.
Huajuzhu bamboo, large arrow bamboo, and others all belong to the type that flowers in patches at regular intervals. The interval between flowering in this type of bamboo is very long, generally 50-60 years; some even flower only once in nearly a hundred years. However, no matter which year the culms grow, as long as the age of the bamboo rhizome is the same or similar, then the flowering time is roughly the same. Even if the ecological environment differs greatly, such as sunny slopes, shady slopes, steep slopes, gentle slopes, different soils, and different altitudes, they can still flower at the same time.
Bamboo cultivation techniques: selecting suitable varieties
For bamboo, the suitable or relatively suitable climate has an annual average temperature of 12 to 22°C, an average January temperature of 5 to 10°C, and an extreme minimum temperature of -20°C; annual precipitation of 1000 to 2000 mm, and an annual average relative humidity of 65% to 82%. North China, however, has a typical continental climate, with severe cold in winter and intense heat in summer. Although there is more rainfall in July and August, the annual average precipitation is only 500 to 600 mm, so it is not an ideal climate condition for bamboo growth. Therefore, relatively cold-resistant scattered bamboo varieties should be selected, such as yellow-groove bamboo, gold-and-jade bamboo, yellow-culm Beijing bamboo, black bamboo, and early garden bamboo. The above varieties not only have strong cold resistance, but also have many successful experiences in northern garden construction that can be referenced.
Scientific planting
According to the climate characteristics of bamboo, which likes warmth and humidity, a sheltered and sunny location should be selected for planting, such as the sunny side of rockeries, buildings, and hills.
The soil at the planting site is best as loam or sandy loam. If the soil is too clayey or pure sand, soil improvement should be carried out. On the basis of applying sufficient base fertilizer (mainly organic fertilizer, about 4 cubic meters per mu), plow and turn the soil to a depth of no less than 40 cm.
Most bamboos planted in northern China are scattered bamboos, generally using the methods of transplanting bamboo or transplanting rhizomes. Whichever method is used, select 1-2 year old bamboo rhizomes that are very strong, free of pests and diseases, bright yellow, and with plump buds. When transplanting bamboo, the underground bamboo rhizome must also be included, otherwise it is difficult to survive.
The best planting season is late spring and early summer. If planted too early, drought, little rain, dry climate, and wind will affect survival; if planted too late, the bamboo has already entered its rapid growth period, and too much root damage is also unfavorable for survival. If local seedling sources are used, it can also be transplanted in the rainy summer, but it must be with a soil ball.
The planting depth should be determined according to the clayey degree of the soil, generally 20 to 25 cm. If too deep, bamboo shoots have difficulty breaking through the soil; if too shallow, the bamboo shoots will be thin and weak after emerging. According to the length of the bamboo rhizome (generally 40 to 50 cm), dig a long strip hole, bury the bamboo rhizome, firm the soil after covering, and water thoroughly.
Management after planting
Bamboo likes moisture. After planting, keep the soil moist frequently. Especially during the shoot emergence period or young bamboo growth period, water must be supplied in time. When transplanting and planting, spray water on the aboveground plants in time. Where conditions permit, spray water on the bamboo leaves before 9 a.m. and after 3 p.m. every day, and a 30% to 50% shade net can also be used for shading. If planted on flat ground, windbreaks need to be set up on the northwest, north, and northeast sides.
When transplanting bamboo, there is a "false death phenomenon." Under improper management, bamboo leaves may partially or completely fall off. But as long as the branches and stems remain bright green and attention is paid to moisture retention, they can all sprout and spread leaves again.
Strengthen the prevention and control of pests and diseases. Bamboo aphids are one of the main pests harming bamboo, and the annual peak occurrence in the north is mostly from August to October. It can be sprayed and killed with 50% zinc phosphide and 50% fenitrothion each at 1000 times dilution. In addition, there are pests such as whitefly, all of which should be controlled in time. Bamboo sooty mold is one of the bamboo leaf diseases, mostly caused by bamboo insects, and is extremely likely to occur under high temperature, high humidity, and poor ventilation. In addition to strengthening bamboo garden management and improving poor environmental conditions, eliminating bamboo aphids is the fundamental measure for controlling sooty mold.
Bamboo cultivation methods
Bamboo growth has its particularity. It relies on the shoot buds on the underground stem (commonly called the bamboo rhizome) to develop into bamboo shoots and then grow into new bamboo. New bamboo can complete height and diameter growth within 1-4 months, and afterward no longer increases. Bamboo sends up shoots and grows into bamboo every year. Therefore, the planting techniques for ornamental bamboo are also different from other nursery stock. The planting methods for early garden bamboo, stiff bamboo, gold-and-jade bamboo, yellow-groove bamboo, yellow-culm Beijing bamboo, black bamboo, indocalamus, and other bamboos are roughly the same.
1.Planting time
1. Scattered bamboo
Scattered bamboo usually begins to send up shoots in spring from March to May. Most bamboo species basically complete height growth in June and produce branches and leaves, then grow a large number of rhizomes from August to September. After entering November, as the temperature decreases, physiological activity gradually slows. By February of the next year, along with the rise in temperature, physiological activity gradually resumes. According to this growth rhythm, the ideal bamboo planting time for scattered bamboo should be from October to February of the next year, especially the "little Indian summer" in October. When planting bamboo in winter from November to December, although there is little rain and the weather is dry, the physiological activity of bamboo tends to be weak at this time, transpiration is not strong, and the survival rate of planted bamboo is also relatively high. In the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, bamboo transplanting for afforestation can be used in normal years during the plum rain season. But it is only suitable for short-distance transplanting, and only when the root ball carries soil can a high survival rate be ensured. Because winters in northern regions are severely cold, it is suitable to plant bamboo in October in autumn and February in early spring. It is worth noting that the shoot emergence period from March to May in spring is not suitable for planting bamboo. "There is no fixed time for planting bamboo; move it after rain." As long as the quality of the mother bamboo is ensured, management is careful, and water balance is maintained, it can be planted at other times of the year except the hot dog days and the severe cold periods. If container bamboo seedlings are used, bamboo can be planted in all four seasons in both north and south, ensuring survival.
2. Clumping bamboo
Generally, culms sprout from March to May, and shoots emerge from June to August, and clumping bamboo is not resistant to severe cold. Therefore, clumping bamboo is best planted in spring in February, before the bamboo buds have sprouted and before the bamboo sap begins to flow. Similarly, if management conditions are good or container bamboo seedlings are used, bamboo can also be planted in all four seasons.
3. Mixed bamboo
The growth and development rhythm of mixed bamboo lies between scattered bamboo and clumping bamboo. It sends up shoots and grows into bamboo from May to July, so the bamboo planting season is suitable in autumn and winter from October to December and in spring from February to March.
2.Planting site preparation
Bamboo growth requires soil depth of 50-100 cm (50 cm is enough for small- and medium-diameter bamboo; large-diameter bamboo such as moso bamboo requires 80-100 cm), fertile, moist sandy loam with good drainage and aeration, slightly acidic or neutral, with pH 4.5-7.0 suitable, and groundwater level below 1 m (moso bamboo) or below 50 cm (small- and medium-diameter bamboo). Site preparation is an important step before bamboo planting. The quality of site preparation directly affects the quality of bamboo establishment and the speed of forming a grove. The best site preparation method is complete site preparation, that is, plowing and turning the planting site completely to a depth of 30 cm and removing stones, weeds, tree roots, and other debris from the soil. If the soil is too clayey, saline-alkali soil, or has too much construction waste, methods such as increasing organic fertilizer, replacing soil, or filling with imported soil should be used for improvement. After preparing the site, planting holes can be dug. The density and specifications of planting holes are determined specifically according to different bamboo species, bamboo seedling specifications, and project requirements. In landscaping projects, generally 3-4 small- and medium-diameter bamboos per square meter, with a plant-row spacing of 50-60 cm, and planting hole specifications of 40 cm in length and width and 30 cm in depth.
3.Requirements for mother bamboo
The quality of mother bamboo has a great influence on the quality of bamboo establishment. High-quality mother bamboo is easy to survive and form a grove after planting, while poor-quality mother bamboo is difficult to keep alive or difficult to establish into a grove. The quality of mother bamboo is mainly reflected in age, thickness, growth vigor, and soil ball size.
① Mother bamboo age: best from the current year to 2 years old. This is because the bamboo rhizome connected to current-year to 2-year-old mother bamboo is generally at the strong-age stage, with plump rhizome buds and sound rhizome roots, so it is easy to keep alive and grow new bamboo and new rhizomes, and forms a grove quickly. Old bamboo (over 3 years old) is not suitable as mother bamboo.
② Mother bamboo thickness: for medium-diameter bamboo (bamboo species such as Phyllostachys praecox and early garden bamboo), a diameter at breast height of 2-3 cm is suitable; for small-diameter bamboo (black bamboo, gold-and-jade bamboo, spotted bamboo, etc.), a diameter at breast height of 1-2 cm is suitable.
③ Mother bamboo should be robust in growth, with relatively low branching, luxuriant branches and leaves, and no pests, diseases, or signs of flowering.
④ The soil ball diameter is preferably 25-30 cm. If the soil ball is too small, the mother bamboo is prone to excessive water loss, reducing survival, and the bamboo rhizome is short with few roots, so grove formation is slow. If the soil ball is too large, it is inconvenient to transport. Small- and medium-sized ornamental bamboos are usually relatively densely grown, so several culms can be dug up together as one "mother bamboo." The specific requirements are: scattered bamboo 1-2 culms per plant, mixed bamboo 2-4 culms per plant, and clumping bamboo can be divided into 3-5 culms per clump after digging. After the mother bamboo is dug up, the bamboo tip should generally be cut off, retaining 4-5 whorls of branches, and overly dense branches and leaves should be pruned to reduce water evaporation and improve the planting survival rate. When mother bamboo is transported over long distances, if the soil ball is loose, it must be wrapped, using straw, woven bags, etc., to wrap the soil ball well. After loading, first spray a small amount of water on the bamboo leaves, then cover the bamboo completely with a tarpaulin to prevent wind and reduce water loss. Short-distance transport of mother bamboo does not need wrapping, but damage to rhizome buds and "screws" and shaking off of the original soil must be prevented.
4.Planting mother bamboo
After the mother bamboo arrives at the planting site, it should be planted immediately. Bamboo should be planted shallowly, not deeply. The surface of the mother bamboo root ball should be 3-5 cm lower than the planting hole surface. First, mix topsoil or organic fertilizer with topsoil and backfill it into the planting hole, generally 10 cm thick. Then remove the wrapping from the mother bamboo root ball, place the mother bamboo into the hole, keep the root ball surface parallel to the ground surface, make the rhizome roots spread out, and make the lower part closely contact the soil. Then first fill with topsoil, then fill with subsoil, pick out stones, tree roots, and other debris, and firm it layer by layer so that the root system and soil are closely connected.
During the process of filling and firming the soil, be careful not to damage the rhizome buds. Then water thoroughly with "root-setting water" to further make the roots and soil closely connected. After the water has completely infiltrated the soil, cover with a layer of loose soil and pile it into a steamed bun shape at the base of the culm. Finally, a layer of straw can be placed on the steamed bun-shaped soil mound to prevent water evaporation from the planting hole. If the mother bamboo is tall or the location is windy, support frames should be added to prevent the wind from shaking the culm, which would prevent close contact between roots and soil and reduce the survival rate.
Potted cultivation and care of bamboo
Bamboo is upright and elegant, with varied branches and leaves, and is evergreen all year round. It is a traditional Chinese courtyard ornamental plant. Together with plum, orchid, and chrysanthemum, it is called the "Four Gentlemen." The Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo said: "I would rather eat without meat than live without bamboo." Today, bamboo is also regarded by people as an excellent product for decorating the home and environment. People in the north especially love bamboo, but because outdoor planting cannot survive due to excessively low winter temperatures, placing potted bamboo indoors for viewing is a better way.
Ornamental potted bamboo species
For ornamental potted bamboo, small- and medium-sized and ground-cover bamboos with peculiar culm shapes, beautiful branches and leaves, and colored culms and leaves are preferable, including several major categories such as culm shape, culm color, leaf color, and plant shape. Some excellent ornamental potted bamboo species are categorized as follows:
1. Culm shape category
① Arhat bamboo (human-face bamboo) Ph.aurea: several nodes at the base or lower middle of the culm are abnormally shortened, and the internodes are swollen or constricted, shaped like a human face;
② Small Buddha-belly bamboo B.ventricosa: culms are short and clumping, with shortened and swollen internodes, shaped like a "Buddha's belly";
③ Large Buddha-belly bamboo B.vulgaris cv. Wamin: culms are relatively large, up to 8 cm in diameter, and the internodes of culms and branches are shortened and swollen in a Buddha-belly shape;
④ Square bamboo Ch.quadrangularis: the basal culm is square, and the lower part of the culm is square while the upper part is round;
⑤ Qiong bamboo Q.tumidinoda: the culm nodes are strongly raised like two trays clasped together, shaped like abacus beads.
2. Culm color category
① Black bamboo (ink bamboo) Ph.nigra: new culms are green and gradually turn purplish black in autumn and winter of the same year;
② Spotted bamboo (Xiangfei bamboo) Ph.bambusoides f.lacrima-deae: culms are green with purplish black patches and spots;
③ Golden bright bamboo Ph.bambusoides var.castillonis: culms and branches are yellow, the longitudinal grooves are bright green, the bamboo leaves are dark green, and the branches spread out;
④ Yellow-culm Wubuji bamboo Ph.vivax f.aureocalis: culm diameter 3 to 5 cm, culms are a unique golden yellow, with irregular dark green stripes of varying thickness below the middle;
⑤ Yellow-striped bamboo Ph.vivax f.huanwenzhu: culms are green, and the longitudinal groove on one side of the branches is golden yellow. In addition, there are also gold-and-jade bamboo Ph.aureosulcata f.spectabilis (culms golden yellow, grooves green), yellow-culm Beijing bamboo Ph.aureosulcata f.aureocaulis (culms entirely golden yellow), yellow-groove stone-green bamboo Ph.arcana f.luteosulcata (culms green, longitudinal grooves yellow), and golden-striped jasper bamboo B.vulgaris cv.Vittata (large clumping bamboo, culms and branches golden yellow with green longitudinal stripes), etc.
3. Leaf color category
① White-striped Yin-Yang bamboo Hi.tranguillans f.shiroshima: culms are obvious, height 1.5 m, leaves broad, with relatively wide yellow stripes, native to Japan;
② Philo white bamboo Sasa fortunei: ground-cover bamboo, culm height 25 cm, leaves green with obvious broad white or pale yellow stripes;
③ Yellow-striped King Kong bamboo Pl.kongosanensis f.aureostriaus: ground-cover bamboo, culm height 30 cm, leaves relatively broad, green, irregularly with yellow stripes; ④ Indocalamus In.herklosii: culm height 1.5 m, bamboo leaves broad, evergreen all year round.
4. Plant shape category
① Bamboo fern B.glaucoscens var.riviererum: clumping bamboo, leaves small, arranged in two rows on small branches, shaped like pinnately compound leaves, often pruned into a spherical shape;
② Small qinsi bamboo (flower hedge bamboo) B.glaucoscens f.alphonse-karr: clumping bamboo, new culms pale red, old culms golden yellow, and irregularly with green longitudinal stripes;
③ Olive bamboo Acidosasa gigantea: culms upright, branches spreading, bamboo leaves dense, bamboo crown layered, leaves soft and slightly wrinkled.
Potted cultivation facilities and materials
1. Greenhouse
Newly planted potted bamboo should be kept under shaded conditions for care. In northern winters, it must overwinter indoors. Therefore, before potting bamboo, facilities should be built well, covered with shade netting, to ensure shading in hot summer and heat preservation in cold winter. If conditions are good, heating equipment can also be provided.
2. Water source
In potted bamboo management, water management is the largest workload and directly affects survival. Therefore, the planting site must have sufficient water supply to meet production needs.
3. Pot soil
Bamboo likes acidic, slightly acidic, or neutral soil, with pH 4.5 to 7.0 suitable, and avoid clayey and alkaline soil. Northern soil is strongly alkaline, so 0.2% ferrous sulfate can be added. The pot soil is best as loose, fertile, well-drained sandy loam, and can be made by mixing farmland soil with red-yellow soil, humus soil, and fine sand. If Philo white bamboo is planted in ordinary pot soil, the survival rate is low, so vermiculite or peat mixed with perlite can be used as the substrate, giving a relatively high survival rate.
4. Fertilizer
Bamboo fertilizer is mainly organic fertilizer. Decomposed livestock manure, garbage fertilizer, and river mud, etc., are all acceptable. Organic fertilizer is mainly used as base fertilizer, mixed into the pot soil for use, generally at 10% to 15% of the pot soil volume.
5. Pot body
The pot body for potted bamboo can be plastic flower pots, plastic buckets, nutrient pots, seedling bags, clay pots, and ceramic pots, etc. Among them, nutrient pots and seedling bags are the most economical and the effect is also good. Choose the pot according to the size of the bamboo. For ground-cover bamboo such as Philo white bamboo, 10×10 and 13×12 cm nutrient pots can be used; for small bamboo such as arhat bamboo, 30×30 cm nutrient pots can be used; for medium bamboo such as yellow-culm Wubuji bamboo, 30×45 and 35×50 cm seedling bags can be used.
Potting process
1. Potting time
For running bamboos, the best potting times are February and March, before the bamboo shoots emerge in spring, and September and October in autumn; for ground-cover bamboos, February is the best. Because clumping bamboos produce shoots in summer and autumn, March to May in spring is the best time for them.
2. Potting requirements
From the bamboo nursery, dig up ornamental bamboos with low branching, lush leaves and attractive plant form, in clumps of 2 to 3 plants. When digging, keep plenty of the original soil to ensure the rhizome buds and rhizome roots remain intact. After digging, immediately transport them to a shady place and spray water on the leaves. Do not shake the culms when digging and transporting bamboos, so as not to damage the "screw" and affect survival. If the bamboo is too tall, the tip should be pruned off; if there are too many leaves, some can be removed. For indoor display, keep the bamboo height at around 2 m.
3. Key points of potting
When potting, first level the pot and line the bottom with a layer of breathable material such as crushed stone or coal cinders. Then add a layer of potting soil and place the bamboo into the pot. Finally add more soil, and while filling, tamp the soil firmly around the pot with a wooden stick. After potting, water thoroughly immediately until water runs out from the bottom of the pot.
Care and management
To ensure that potted bamboo survives, grows vigorously and stays green and elegant, care and management must be strengthened. The main tasks include the following aspects:
1. Water management
Bamboo likes moisture and fears waterlogging. After potting, water thoroughly the first time, then keep the potting soil moist; do not water too much, otherwise the rhizomes and roots rot easily. From potting until the plant is established, also spray water on the leaves frequently. If the potting soil lacks water, the bamboo leaves will curl; at this point, water promptly and the leaves will unfurl again. In summer, water once every 1 to 2 days on average; in winter, water less, but keep the potting soil moist to prevent "dry freezing".
2. Fertilizer management
Fertilizer for potted bamboo is mainly organic fertilizer mixed into the potting soil at potting time; after the bamboo is established, apply supplementary fertilizer appropriately, "light fertilizer applied frequently", applying 0.5% urea or 1.0% compound fertilizer in water in spring and summer.
3. Pest and disease control
Potted bamboo pests mainly include aphids and scale insects, which can be sprayed with 80% dichlorvos emulsion or 40% dimethoate emulsion at 1000 times dilution; diseases mainly include sooty mold and witches' broom, for which management should be strengthened and diseased plants pruned promptly.
4. Other management
In hot seasons, move potted bamboo to a shady place to avoid scorching sun. Greenhouses should be covered with shade netting, and water should be sprayed on the leaves to keep the foliage green. In winter, potted bamboo must be moved to a wind-sheltered, sunny place or indoors, and greenhouses should be covered with plastic film for insulation.
Propagation methods of bamboo
Bamboo is mostly propagated by division, burying culms, transplanting rhizomes, and sowing.
Bamboo rhizomes have strong sprouting ability and clumping habit; cut the rhizomes before sprouting in early spring and plant them separately together with the culms, and new bamboo can grow by that summer. Seeds from bamboo after flowering can also be sown.
For planting bamboo, choose a wind-sheltered, sunny and moist environment. Bamboo grows fast and has a large growth volume, with high demands for water and fertilizer; it requires sufficient moisture but also good drainage. It requires deep, fertile, slightly acidic soil rich in organic matter and mineral elements. Common garden plantings include moso bamboo, fernleaf bamboo, pale bamboo, dryland garden bamboo, and stiff bamboo.
1. Rhizome burial propagation
Suitable for running bamboo species and mixed bamboo species. The method is: dig up strong rhizomes, keep the rhizome roots and rhizome buds, retain plenty of original soil, cut the rhizomes into 50-60 cm segments, lay them flat on the seedbed, cover with soil 5-8 cm thick, and keep the seedbed moist. The best time for rhizome burial is about one month before bamboo shoots emerge in early spring. After burying the rhizomes, water in dry weather and drain in rainy weather. After seedlings emerge, apply nitrogen fertilizer in good time, such as urea, ammonium sulfate and decomposed human manure, and also weed promptly. With proper management, after one year each rhizome can produce 2-3 bamboo seedlings, to be used for afforestation the following spring.
2. Culm burial propagation
Suitable for clumping bamboo species. The method is: select 2-year-old vigorous culms, dig them up with the stump or cut them off without the stump, keep one branch node on each node of the culm, cut off and remove the culm tip, and every 1-2 nodes cut or saw a notch in the middle of the node; soak the culm in clean water, and after the culm cavity is filled with water, seal the cut with clay. Open level trenches in the seedbed, lay the culms flat (notch facing upward), then cover with soil 5-10 cm thick and keep the seedbed moist. After about 1 month, the buds at the culm nodes sprout and emerge one after another. After half a year to one year, the culms can be dug up and cut into single-plant bamboo seedlings for afforestation. The best time for culm burial propagation is about 1 month before bamboo sprouts.
3. Node burial propagation
This method is also suitable for clumping bamboo species, especially clumping bamboos with dormant buds at the base of the side branches, such as Chengzhu bamboo, green skin bamboo, Datou dian bamboo, and Diaosi bamboo. The method is: saw the culm into segments node by node or every two nodes, then transplant and bury them in the seedbed, cover with soil and keep moist; its management requirements are the same as for culm burial propagation.
4. Side branch propagation
This method is also applied to clumping bamboo species. The method is: remove side branches (secondary branches) from the nodes of culms more than 2 years old, cut off excess branch tips and bamboo leaves, keep 5-8 nodes, and protect the buds at the base. Insert the side branches into the seedbed with the upper half of the branches and leaves exposed, set up a shade frame over the seedbed, and spray water frequently to keep moist. After 1-2 weeks, the base of the secondary branches grows roots, new buds grow on the branch nodes, and they gradually develop into independent bamboo plants. Generally, side branch cuttings give the best results when done during the period of most vigorous bamboo growth. After one year of cultivation, the side branch seedlings tiller into bamboo clumps and can then be used for afforestation.
Any method of vegetative propagation of bamboo is a mutation, which leads to flowering.
Disease and pest control of bamboo
Potted bamboo pests mainly include aphids and scale insects, which can be sprayed with 80% dichlorvos emulsion or 40% dimethoate emulsion at 1000 times dilution; diseases mainly include sooty mold and witches' broom, for which management should be strengthened and diseased plants pruned promptly.
Bamboo variety classification: contemporary varieties
1. Ci bamboo
Ci bamboo is the clumping type. A typical representative of bamboo: tall, with long internodes and dense, rich leaves. Its biological characteristics:
(1) Growth characteristics of the aboveground part: shoot buds emerge from June to August, and growth basically stops in mid-October. Generally 20-30 nodes, 8 to 13 m tall; maximum lifespan 9 years; 1-2 year old mother bamboos have the strongest shoot-producing ability, and 3-5 successive generations show a large increase rate of new shoots and can cultivate large timber; leaves are replaced once a year; flowering is unrelated to age but related to water and nutrients, with leaves turning yellow before flowering and gradually falling after flowering, dying off one after another, and the material becoming brittle; 1-year-old is young bamboo, 2-3 year old is mature bamboo; 4-5 year old is old bamboo. The sheaths are hairy.
(2) Growth characteristics of the underground part: the culm base has 6 nodes, of which only one node has shoots growing from it (the part connecting the culm handle to the old bamboo); the underground parts are densely clustered together, do not extend elsewhere, and have a tendency to arch upward toward the ground; the rhizome fibrous roots of a single clump are well developed, mostly in the surface layer, reaching as deep as 2 m. New young bamboo does not produce roots in the same year; roots form in the second year, then gradually weaken, and 6-7 year old old bamboo has very few living roots; culms that have lost their aboveground part can remain underground for more than ten years before rotting, and if not dealt with in time they coil and bind layer upon layer, affecting shoot formation and bamboo grove growth, so the connection between the bamboo plant and the old stump should be cut off; this is called "stump removal".
Ci bamboo culms have strong fiber toughness and sparse nodes with long internodes, making them a superior material for bamboo weaving crafts. Ci bamboo is the main bamboo species in Qingshen, and in rural areas almost every household plants it.
2. Dan bamboo
Commonly known among the people as "bitter Ci", it is the high-quality Ci bamboo of the Ci bamboo genus with the longest internodes (more than one meter long). The bamboo material is fine and smooth, and the fiber toughness is especially strong; it can be split into bamboo strips as thin as cicada wings and as fine as hair, woven into fine bamboo crafts like silk or satin. This species mostly grows on fertile shady slopes and is the best material for bamboo weaving. Besides Qingshen, some of this "bitter Ci" bamboo also grows in the Meishan and Qionglai areas.
3. Four-season bamboo
This is a high-quality bamboo species introduced to Qingshen in recent years. It is the clumping type and is named for producing shoots in all four seasons. It is a species of the Ci bamboo genus, and its biggest features are thick, tall, straight culms, a single one weighing several dozen jin, fine fibers, and fast propagation and growth; it is a good material for papermaking and has great economic value. In townships such as Xilong, Guanjin, Guihua, Baiguo and Luowan in Qingshen, there are bases of this bamboo covering over 100,000 mu. This bamboo originated in Daping Township, Yuanling County, Hunan.
4. Yingtouhuang
Clumping type, with tall, straight, hard culms, thick walls and small cavities, so it is mostly used for building materials; in rural areas it is used for load-bearing and for carrying and lifting things. Planted in small quantities.
5. Spotted bamboo
Also known as Xiangfei bamboo, running type, with tall, straight, upright culms, large diameter and hard material; the culm surface has brown spots, said in legend to have been formed by the tears of the two daughters of Emperor Yao shedding on it, hence the name "spotted bamboo". This bamboo is mostly used for building materials and can also be split into strips for weaving. The tow ropes for pulling boats in ancient times were mostly woven from strips of this bamboo. Its features are that water does not easily erode it, it is light and portable, and it has strong tensile strength. It is not planted in large quantities in Qingshen. It is mainly produced in the Xiang River basin of Hunan.
6. Nanzhu
Also known as moso bamboo, it is the representative of running bamboos. The culms are tall and straight, and hard. The diameter is about 20 cm; it is a good material for construction; the bamboo head is a good material for carved crafts; the bamboo shoots are an excellent dish, called "jade nan slices". In Qingshen it is planted in places such as Zhongyan Temple and Deyun Temple. It is abundantly produced in Changning, Sichuan, Chishui, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan and other places.
7. Thorn nan bamboo
A species of the nan bamboo genus, named for the hard "thorns" on both culms and branch forks. Clumping type, with tall, straight culms, upright and thick (diameter more than 10 cm), thick flesh and small cavity, hairless shoot sheaths, and few leaves. Mostly used for building materials. There is a small amount planted in places such as the Qingshen Bamboo Art City and Tianmiao.
8. Water bamboo
Running type, with slender, hard culms shaped like steel pipes, sparse leaves, and relatively strong bamboo toughness. Mostly used as material for making bamboo furniture; when growing in large continuous areas, it can be used as papermaking material. There was once a patch of water bamboo in Luowan, Qingshen, called the "bamboo sea".
9. Ink bamboo
Running type, a rare bamboo species. Named because both culms and branches are black; the outer shell of the shoot tip is reddish brown, and it matures after one year. It is the best material for making flute and xiao pipe instruments. It is scarce in a few places in Qingshen.
10. White powder bamboo
Clumping type, Ci bamboo genus, with long culm nodes, shaped like "bitter Ci", named for the thin layer of white powder on the culm surface.
Ornamental bamboos introduced by the Qingshen "Bamboo Art City" include:
11. Arhat bamboo
Clumping type, with short culms, a large head and a smaller upper part; several nodes at the head bulge like an "arhat's" belly, hence the name. It can be used as craft material.
12. Qinsi bamboo
Clumping type; some are tall and some are short; the culm surface is pale yellow with green lines of alternating thickness, shaped like "qin strings", hence the name.
13. Fernleaf bamboo
Clumping type, with slender, short culms and very fine branches and leaves, shaped like a phoenix tail, hence the name.
14. Square bamboo
Mixed type, named because the culm is roughly square. The surface is pale yellow, and there is a ring of small thorns on the node ring, so it is also called "thorn bamboo". It can be used as craft processing material. This bamboo is rare and is a rare bamboo type. There is a precious patch of "square bamboo" in Fengli Village, Zhayang Township, Tuorong County, Fujian.
15. Palm bamboo
Mixed type; its stem resembles bamboo but is not bamboo, black with skin, solid at the center, with white bristle-like markings inside the flesh.
16. Douli bamboo
Mixed type, with slender, straight, hard culms and broad leaves, and strong reproductive capacity; in ancient times the culms were used to make arrow shafts. The people of Qingshen often put the leaves inside woven bamboo hats to protect against rain or sun, hence the name "douli bamboo".
17. The world's largest bamboo, giant dragon bamboo
Produced in the Yunnan region of China, where local people can use it to make water buckets or large utensils. Some professionals say it is golden thunder bamboo.
Ancient bamboo species
Recorded in the Jin Dynasty's Dai Kaizhi's "Bamboo Classic" and the Ming Dynasty's Xu Guangqi's "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration"
1. Twelve-hour bamboo: the bamboo nodes bulge in a ring and bear characters. The twelve characters zi, chou, yan, mao, si, wu, wei, shen, you, xu, hai and so on; the family of Zhou Junshu in Anfu, Qizhou had this bamboo, also a wonder of creation.
2. Xilao bamboo: from Xinzhou, one branch has a hundred leaves, the skin is sharp and can be used to sharpen armor; after long use it becomes slightly slippery, but after soaking overnight in sour liquid it is sharp again as before; mostly used for crossbow arrows.
3. Human-face bamboo: from Tan Mountain, the bamboo diameter is a few cun, and nearly two chi from the base, the nodes are crowded and uneven on all sides, the bamboo skin is like fish scales, and the surface bulges quite like a human face; large bamboo is like a bowl mouth, small bamboo is like a finger, a treasure for craft processing.
4. Peach silk bamboo: leaves like palm, body like bamboo, with dense nodes and solid, thick outside and thin-boned, a natural walking stick, from the Ba-Yu region; the kind produced in Yu has fine veins, with one node four chi long.
5. Gold-inlaid jade-set bamboo: produced in Chengdu, no different from ordinary bamboo, but on the culm each node alternates two green and two yellow sections.
6. Filial bamboo: culms slender and long, used for making large threads; in summer the shoots emerge from the middle, yielding to the mother bamboo, and in winter the shoots protect from the outside while the mother bamboo wraps them inside, hence called "cijiao".
7. Qi bamboo: from Qizhou in Chu; the local people take the glossy, moist-colored ones to make mats, and the ones with sparse nodes to make xiao pipes (flutes).
8. Twin bamboo: grows in Wulin West Mountain, Zhejiang; its charm lies in the slender, tender shoots that sprout in pairs and grow together in a tangle, with the most lovely color.
9. Dragon lord bamboo: produced in Luofu Mountain, its diameter is about seven chi, the nodes are one zhang two chi long, and the leaves are like banana leaves.
10. Bow bamboo: produced in the East, originally growing a hundred xun long, its bends like a vine, and it must rely on a large tree to climb up; its material has grain.
11. Keting bamboo: produced south of Yunmeng; its culms, after some years, are split to make musical instruments, and the sound is the clearest and brightest.
12. Osmanthus bamboo: from Nankang Prefecture, culms four to five zhang tall, about one chi in girth, shaped like licorice skin but red in color.
13. Simo bamboo: the wonder is that shoots grow from the nodes, and after the culm has formed, shoots again grow from its nodes; from overseas.
14. Plum green bamboo: its culms resemble Xiangfei bamboo but are slender, the skin has no swirling patterns, and the color is also dark, but much inferior to human-face bamboo; mostly taken to make fan ribs.
15. Dafu bamboo: named for its slenderness, with culms straight up to the clouds and a girth of three chi; from Luyan.
16. Dragon whisker bamboo: grows in the valleys of Chenzhou and the three mountains of Zhejiang, less than one chi tall, with branches and culms as fine as needles; it can be grown as a potted ornament, but in winter it must not be exposed to frost and snow.
17. Linhe bamboo: its culms are so large that they reach ten arm-spans, even more wonderful than dragon lord bamboo. From Linhe.
18. Love-sick bamboo: from Guangdong, resembling twin bamboo but somewhat larger, always growing in pairs facing each other.
19. Sparse-node bamboo: its culms are the tallest, each node about one cun apart; from the south side of Limu Mountain.
20. Danqing bamboo: from Xiong'er Mountain, its leaves have three colors, yellow, green and red, growing alternately.
21. Hollow-node bamboo: produced in Qinzhou, its culms grow straight up without nodes, and the center is hollow with no partitions; also an exotic species.
22. Condensed wave bamboo: its branches and leaves are all like ordinary bamboo, but it has red flowers that open like pomegranate; also a curious bamboo.
23. Pei bamboo: it was said in the past that this bamboo grows a hundred zhang long, from the cities of the southern wilds; appended here merely to record the marvel.
24. Flat bamboo: its culms are extremely flat; from Mount Kuanglu.
25. Boat bamboo: from Yuanqiu, as large as a bathtub.
26. Qiong bamboo: Emperor Wu of Han sent people to open [the region] and obtain Qiong bamboo staffs.
27. Guanyin bamboo: from Zhancheng Wei.
28. Fan bamboo: none.
Famous types
Stiff bamboo, pale bamboo, spotted bamboo, arrow bamboo, square bamboo, moso bamboo (Mengzong bamboo, nan bamboo), green bamboo, thorn bamboo, long-branch bamboo, hemp bamboo, osmanthus bamboo, purple bamboo, fernleaf bamboo.
Bamboo is the general term for the bamboo subfamily (Bambusoideae), a branch of the grass family Poaceae, distributed in subtropical regions, also called bamboo or bamboo. Some are low like grass, and some are tall like big trees. They usually grow in patches through creeping underground rhizomes. They can also reproduce by flowering and setting seed. They are perennial plants. The shoots of some species can be eaten. About 150 genera and 1225 species are known worldwide.
The classification system of bamboo is imperfect. Because of their growth characteristics, bamboos do not often flower, and their appearances are very similar, so the current classification of bamboo distinguishes and classifies them according to the sheath shells wrapping the bamboo shoots. However, the traits of the sheath shells are not stable, so in many cases this leads to ambiguity, making it impossible to reach a unique conclusion on the boundaries between some bamboo populations. The following incomplete statistics are provided, please forgive:
There are many kinds of bamboo, totaling more than 500 species, varieties, forms and cultivars, most of which can be enjoyed in gardens. Famous varieties include: nan bamboo, fernleaf bamboo, small qinsi bamboo, Buddha-belly bamboo, large Buddha-belly bamboo, cold bamboo, Xiangfei bamboo, cold arrow bamboo, large arrow bamboo, Tang bamboo, Thai bamboo, large Thai bamboo, filial bamboo, ox-ear bamboo, square bamboo, Sichuan square bamboo, dragon-crutch bamboo, cart-tube bamboo, green skin bamboo, powder dan bamboo, short-spike bamboo, yellow bamboo, flower-culm yellow bamboo, giant dragon bamboo, crutch bamboo, smooth giant bamboo, broad-leaf indocalamus, mercury bamboo, human-face bamboo, moso bamboo, flower moso bamboo, flower bamboo, purple bamboo, spotted bamboo, tortoise-shell bamboo, pale bamboo, stiff bamboo, bitter bamboo, golden bamboo, tortoise-vein bamboo, silver-chain bamboo, jade-edge bamboo, tea-culm bamboo, arrow bamboo, bubble bamboo, arhat bamboo, Miaozi bamboo, goose-feather bamboo, thorn bamboo, Fei yellow bamboo, Chinese indocalamus, ink bamboo, etc.
Bamboo is evergreen through the four seasons, upright and elegant, colorful and in a thousand forms. Fernleaf bamboo has graceful, slender branches and leaves; qinsi bamboo has emerald green lines inlaid on golden-yellow branches; Xiangfei bamboo has mottled markings on its branches, green and lovely; spotted-leaf bitter bamboo has white patterns on its leaves; purple bamboo, yellow bamboo and red bamboo have branches respectively purple, yellow and purplish red; flower-body bamboo has yellow lines inlaid on green culms; Buddha-belly bamboo has short, thick branches that bulge outward, like the big belly of an arhat. In addition, dragon-scale bamboo, jasper bamboo, chicken-claw bamboo and others are also rare varieties among bamboos.
Because bamboo does not often flower, and the shoot season is short with varying shoot emergence times, it is difficult to collect specimens of all organs at the same time, which brings difficulties to research work and makes the study of the classification system of the bamboo subfamily one of the most disputed parts of plant systematics research. There are about 70-80 genera and more than 1000 species of bamboo subfamily plants worldwide. China is the country with the richest bamboo resources and the longest history of bamboo cultivation and utilization in the world, and ranks among the international leaders in bamboo research, bamboo grove cultivation and product development, and is known as a "world bamboo industry power".
China is one of the world's central bamboo production areas and one of the countries with the richest bamboo resources, the largest bamboo grove area, the highest output, the longest cultivation history and a relatively high level of management. Bamboo grove area accounts for 1/5 of the world's bamboo grove area. China has about 300 species of bamboo, and is not only a major origin center of Asian bamboo but also the center of differentiation and distribution of modern bamboo. Bamboo grows fast and can be cut for use four years after planting; one planting can be used many times. Because it is easy to obtain and light yet strong, it has been widely used by humans since ancient times. From its culms, branches, leaves, sheaths, rhizome roots and young shoots, there are hundreds of uses in building materials, food, papermaking, packaging, crafts and other fields. Therefore, bamboo is an extremely important economic crop. Archaeology confirms that our ancestors used bamboo for hunting and warfare ten thousand years ago. Bamboo slips, bamboo and silk, and writing brushes, these bamboo cultural articles, recorded history.
In China, besides a large number of writings on bamboo in ancient books, scholars began modern classification research on bamboo from the 1930s. The late Professor Geng Yili (1897-1975) edited "Illustrated Major Plants of China: Grasses" in 1959, making a preliminary systematic arrangement of the genera and species of the bamboo subfamily in China; at that time 20 genera, 71 species, varieties and types were included, among which 12 were Yunnan bamboo species. According to the "Flora of China", the bamboo species now reported number 37 genera and about 500 species, with both the number of genera and the number of species accounting for 1/2 of the world, of which about 1/3 of the genera and species are endemic components.
Systematic research on the bamboo subfamily in Yunnan began to make great progress in the 1970s, among which the contribution of the famous bamboo taxonomist Professor Xue Jiru was especially notable. He began this work in the 1950s, and by the 1980s had successively discovered 5 new genera, 6 newly distributed genera and 120 new species. Systematic literature includes "Bamboo Resources of Yunnan and Their Development and Utilization" (edited by Xue Jiru, Yang Yuming, Hui Chaomao and others), "Bamboo Cultivation and Utilization" (edited by Hui Chaomao, Du Fan, Yang Yuming), "Industrial Utilization of Timber Bamboo Resources" (compiled by Hui Chaomao, Yang Yuming), "Industrialized Development of High-Quality Shoot Bamboo" (edited by Yang Yuming, Hui Chaomao), "Bamboo of the Nujiang" (compiled by Hui Chaomao and others) and other monographs.
According to the ancient Chinese "Detailed Record of Bamboo Manuals" and "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration": "The categories of bamboo number sixty-one, three hundred and fourteen species." According to records: there are 65 genera and 1250 species of bamboo worldwide, and China is the country with the richest bamboo resources, long known as the "bamboo kingdom". At present there are 39 genera and more than 500 species of bamboo, with a bamboo grove area of 7.2 million hectares, and the types, area and stock volume of bamboo groves all rank among the highest in the world. Zhang Qisheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and expert in bamboo charcoal research, once said in an interview with reporters that bamboo charcoal products represent the current consumption trend at home and abroad, China's bamboo resources are very rich, and the bamboo charcoal industry has broad market prospects. At present, the bamboos of Taiwan, China can be divided into 5 genera, totaling about 170 species. There are six common major categories in Taiwan, China: osmanthus bamboo, Mengzong bamboo, thorn bamboo, evergreen branch bamboo, hemp bamboo and green bamboo.
There are about 70-odd genera and more than 1,200 species of bamboo plants worldwide, mainly distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, with a few bamboo species distributed in temperate and frigid zones. Bamboo has high and very sensitive requirements for water and heat conditions, and the distribution of water and heat on the earth's surface governs the geographical distribution of bamboo. Southeast Asia is located in the tropics and southern subtropics, and is also affected by the convergence of the Pacific and Indian Ocean monsoons; with abundant rainfall and stable heat, it is an ideal ecological environment for bamboo growth and is also the center of world bamboo distribution; bamboo is mainly distributed in temperate regions around 30 degrees north latitude.
Identifying the type of bamboo is based on its growth characteristics. It is mainly identified by its propagation type, the shape of the culm and the shape characteristics of the bamboo sheath. According to propagation type, bamboo is divided into three major categories: clumping type, running type and mixed type.
Clumping type
This means new bamboo is propagated from buds at the base of the mother bamboo. New bamboo grows from the lateral buds of the culm rhizome of the old bamboo, so they appear gathered together, clump by clump. People commonly call it "bamboo stump bears shoots". Examples include Ci bamboo, Yingtouhuang, hemp bamboo, dan bamboo, green bamboo, thorn bamboo, long-branch bamboo, Penglai bamboo and so on.
Running type
This means new bamboo is propagated from buds on the rhizome roots (commonly known as horse whips). Examples include moso bamboo, spotted bamboo, water bamboo, purple bamboo and so on.
Mixed type
This means propagation both from buds at the base of the mother bamboo and from buds on the bamboo rhizome roots. Their long underground stems creep underground! New bamboo then emerges from these underground stems, so new bamboo grows near the old bamboo, appearing to grow one by one independently. Examples include Mengzong bamboo, osmanthus bamboo, human-face bamboo, ink bamboo, Tang bamboo, four-square bamboo, bitter bamboo, palm bamboo, arrow bamboo, Japanese red bamboo and so on.
Distribution areas of bamboo
Bamboo belongs to the monocotyledonous grass family (Poaceae). Bamboo is widely distributed and grows all over the world. There are about 65 genera and more than 1,250 species worldwide. Bamboo loves to grow in warm and humid climates, so it is mainly distributed in low-latitude tropical or subtropical monsoon climate zones. Asia is the center of bamboo growth, and bamboo is a specialty of the East. About 79 species grow in Taiwan, China, of which 17 are fixed species. Its distribution runs from north to south, and it can be seen from sea level to mountains above 3,000 m.
World bamboo types and distribution
Bamboo is mainly distributed in the tropical, subtropical and warm temperate zones of the Earth between 46 degrees north latitude and 47 degrees south latitude. In the world, apart from the European continent, native bamboo species that appeared after the fourth glaciation can be found on all other continents. Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hunan, Yunnan and Sichuan in China all have large distributions of different types of bamboo. The Asia-Pacific region and the Americas are also major bamboo distribution areas.
Bamboo originated in the tropics but still has strong adaptability, and is distributed from the tropics to the temperate zone. Some species can be distributed into cold temperate zones and the upper parts of mountains at altitudes as high as 4,500 m. In the world, except for Europe, which has no native bamboo species, all other continents have natural distributions, but most species are concentrated in humid and warm tropical and subtropical areas. From a global perspective, bamboo can be divided into three major regions in terms of geographical distribution.
Asia-Pacific bamboo region
This region is the largest bamboo region, reaching south to Singapore at 42°S, north to central Sakhalin at 51°N, east to the Pacific islands, and west to the southwest Indian Ocean. About 40 to 50 genera and nearly 900 species of bamboo are distributed here. The Southeast Asian part of this region is the world center of origin of bamboo and also one of its modern distribution centers. In particular, central and southern Yunnan in China is extremely rich in bamboo species, and its floristic geographical elements are also relatively complex, with a large number of bamboo species of high economic value.
American bamboo
It spans South America, reaching south to southern Argentina at 47°S and north to the eastern United States at 40°N, with about 18 genera and 270 species in total. Bamboo is far less important in the cultural development, production and life of people in the Americas than in Asia.
African bamboo region
The distribution range of bamboo in this region is relatively small, reaching south to 22° and north to eastern Sudan at 6°N. The bamboo flora of the African continent is poor, with few native bamboo species, but it forms large areas of bamboo forest, or associates with other tree species to form the lower and middle layers of mixed forests. On the island of Madagascar in East Africa, however, there are 11 genera and 40 species, far richer than the African continent.
Distribution of bamboo in China. China is one of the countries richest in bamboo in the world. In terms of distribution, it has obvious zonality and regionality and can be divided into 5 major bamboo regions.
Northern scattered bamboo region
It includes southeastern Gansu, northern Sichuan, southern Shaanxi, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, as well as southern Shandong and southwestern Hebei, with about 10 genera, 29 species, 10 varieties and forms of bamboo distributed. Bamboo in this region is mainly scattered bamboo, such as Bashania and Phyllostachys. According to the horizontal distribution of bamboo, it can further be divided into 3 natural distribution areas: the bamboo area of the Huai River and upper Han River in the northern subtropical zone; the bamboo area of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River in the warm humid zone; and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia bamboo area in the warm temperate zone.
Jiangnan mixed bamboo region
This region includes southeastern Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang and northwestern Fujian, roughly equivalent to 25-30°N. It has the characteristic of mixed distribution of scattered bamboo and clumping bamboo, with scattered bamboos such as Phyllostachys, Indocalamus and Pleioblastus, as well as clumping bamboos such as Neosinocalamus and Bambusa. This region is the area with the largest area of artificial bamboo forest and the highest bamboo timber output in China, especially moso bamboo. It is the central area of moso bamboo distribution in China, and the bamboo industry is relatively developed.
Southwestern high-mountain bamboo region
It includes southeastern Xizang, northwestern and northeastern Yunnan, and western and southern Sichuan, located in the Hengduan Mountains. It is mainly dominated by sympodial scattered high-mountain bamboos such as Fargesia and Yushania, generally distributed at altitudes of 1,500-3,800 m or higher. Species of Indocalamus, Chimonocalamus and Chimonobambusa are also distributed in some parts of this region.
Southern clumping bamboo region
According to differences in bamboo species composition and habitat conditions, it is divided into two subregions. South China subregion: includes Taiwan, China, the coastal areas of Fujian, areas south of the Nanling Mountains in Guangdong, and southeastern Guangxi, located in the current subtropical monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest zone and tropical rainforest and rain forest areas. Representative bamboos include clumping bamboos such as Bambusa and Schizostachyum. Bambusa has the most species and is the distribution center of the genus. This subregion also has amphipodial mixed types such as Sinobambusa. Southwest subregion: includes western Guangxi, southern Guizhou and most of Yunnan, mainly clumping bamboos such as Dendrocalamus, Gigantochloa, Cephalostachyum and Thyrsostachys, especially Dendrocalamus, which is the geographical distribution center of the genus.
Qiong-Dian climbing bamboo region
It includes central and southern Hainan Island, southern and western edges of Yunnan, and the southern edge of Xizang. The main characteristic of bamboo in this region is that it has many climbing clumping bamboos, such as some species of Melocalamus, Dinochloa, Schizostachyum and Bambusa.
The region richest in Bambusoideae plants in China is Yunnan. So far, 28 genera and 220 species have been discovered and reported, with the number of genera accounting for 3/4 of the country and the number of species accounting for nearly 1/2 of the country. The academic community generally recognizes that Yunnan is one of the world centers of origin and modern distribution of bamboo plants, and it has the reputation of being the "hometown of world bamboo."
Yunnan Province is the richest and most special region for bamboo plants in the world and is a world center of origin and modern distribution of bamboo plants. It has more than 28 genera and 220 species of bamboo, with the number of genera accounting for 40% of the world and 75% of China, and the number of species accounting for 25% of the world and 50% of China. No other country or region in the world can compare with Yunnan in the richness of its bamboo species. It is also a world-famous distribution area of natural bamboo forests, with a bamboo forest area of 331,000 hectares. It is known as the "hometown of world bamboo," the "home of large clumping bamboos" and the "home of ethnic bamboo culture."
The geographical distribution of bamboo in Yunnan can be divided into 7 regions: the southern Yunnan tropical large clumping bamboo region, the southwestern Yunnan tropical and warm-hot large and medium-sized clumping bamboo region, the southeastern Yunnan tropical and warm-hot large and medium-sized mixed bamboo region, the central Yunnan warm medium-sized mixed bamboo region, the western Yunnan warm-temperate small and medium-sized mixed bamboo region, the northwestern Yunnan cold-temperate small mixed bamboo region, and the northeastern Yunnan cool small and medium-sized scattered bamboo region.
Bamboo Garden
Bamboo originated in the rainy tropical and subtropical regions. Yunnan has complex terrain and large altitude differences, and its climate is influenced by both the southeast monsoon and the southwest monsoon. All of these provide favorable conditions for bamboo growth. Therefore, Yunnan is the center of origin of bamboo in Asia and also a world center of origin of bamboo. Many bamboos are distributed with Yunnan as their center or are endemic there. Among the bamboos in Yunnan, many are large and medium-sized bamboos good for both shoots and timber, as well as precious economic bamboos with extremely high ornamental value.
The Bamboo Garden was built in 1965 and has introduced and cultivated more than 250 kinds of bamboo. It has collected most species from southern Yunnan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and tropical Southeast Asia, as well as a small number of species from Yunnan. There are many precious bamboo species in the garden, such as the giant dragon bamboo with stems as thick as 25 cm, the Buddha belly bamboo with internodes resembling a Buddha's belly, the golden bamboo with alternating yellow and green stripes, the spiny bamboo whose branches are covered with hooked thorns, the glutinous rice fragrant bamboo used by the local Dai people to make bamboo tube rice, the rare climbing bamboo that climbs trees and entwines branches, and the phoenix-tail bamboo with strong Dai ethnic flavor.
Uses and functions of bamboo
Bamboo is evergreen all year round and has a wide range of uses. In courtyards, it is an indispensable plant for accenting rockeries and waterside pavilions. Bamboo is evergreen all year round and absorbs a large amount of water. Planting some bamboo in front of and behind a house can not only beautify the environment, but also make it very shady in summer. Mr. Dongpo once said: "I would rather eat without meat than live without bamboo." This shows that bamboo is very closely related to people's lives. Phoenix-tail bamboo is widely planted along the Li River in Guilin, forming a unique landscape. Anji Bamboo Sea, Shunan Bamboo Sea and Gannan Bamboo Sea are famous bamboo sea landscapes in China.
Because bamboo material is elegant, its products are sturdy and durable, comfortable to sit or lie on and inexpensive, and have a strong rural flavor and ethnic atmosphere, it is widely used by people in daily life. The art of bamboo craftsmanship has accordingly been preserved, created and continued. Bamboo grows quickly. In recent years, for environmental protection considerations, a large amount of furniture and paper has switched to being made from bamboo. Bamboo can also be used to make handicrafts, musical instruments and so on.
Bamboo art
Bamboo handicrafts include: bamboo slips, bamboo plaques, bamboo hanging pictures, bamboo slip calligraphy and painting, bamboo-carved brush pots, bamboo-carved liuqing arm rests, bamboo root carvings and various other categories.
Bamboo furniture
In ancient China, furniture mainly included mats, beds, screens, mirror stands, tables, chairs, cabinets and so on. The mat was the oldest and most primitive furniture, first woven from leaves and later mostly woven from reeds and bamboo strips.
Bamboo in fine art works
Painters through the dynasties in China often took bamboo as their creative subject, such as Wen Tong (1017-1079), Ni Zan (1301-1374), Xia Chang (1388-1470), Zheng Banqiao (1693-1765), Zhu Xuanxian (1927-2002) and others. They all created many excellent works in this regard.
In addition, it can be used for furniture, papermaking, handicrafts, musical instruments, as building materials for sheds and flooring, and for daily necessities such as brooms and cool mats. In recent years, bamboo fiber made from bamboo material through engineering methods and physical and chemical action has been used in textiles to make towels and clothing.
Bamboo material is roasted to make bamboo charcoal, which is used in many situations, including removing odors from the environment and in specially flavored foods. Activated carbon made by crushing and activating bamboo charcoal has good adsorption and purification effects and is used in automobiles and homes, as well as in sewage treatment.
It is mainly divided into four major categories: shoot use, ornamental use, traditional material use and industrial material use:
Shoot use
It mainly appears as bamboo shoots and dried bamboo shoots. China's excellent main bamboo species for shoots include moso bamboo and early bamboo in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and ma bamboo and green bamboo in the Pearl River basin, Fujian, Taiwan, China and other places. Bamboo shoots are rich in protein, amino acids, fat, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, iron, carotene, and vitamins B1, B2 and C, and are excellent health vegetables.
Bamboo green is a Chinese medicinal material that clears heat and cools the body. The juice obtained by roasting fresh bamboo slices over fire is called bamboo sap, used to treat cough and reduce phlegm. Bamboo shoots are a common delicacy. The seeds of bamboo are called bamboo rice, and because they are not easy to obtain, they are a precious delicacy.
In Japan and South Korea, some people process it with sea salt, yellow earth and so on in a method similar to steelmaking to make green bamboo salt (also called bamboo salt), which is used as a seasoning and even added to personal hygiene products. Bamboo salt toothpaste is one of the better-known products. It is said to have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects, prevent allergies and cavities, maintain gum collagen, and prevent gum degeneration and periodontal disease.
Ornamental use
It mainly appears as ornamental garden bamboo, a type of garden bamboo plant specially cultivated for viewing, generally with relatively unusual forms such as stems and leaf color. Common ornamental bamboos include scattered types such as black bamboo, moso bamboo, stiff bamboo, sweet bamboo and square bamboo; clumping types such as Buddha belly bamboo and hedge bamboo; and mixed types such as indocalamus and tea pole bamboo.
Traditional material use
1. Household items: bamboo brooms, bamboo fences, bamboo pig cages, bamboo greenhouses, bamboo waterwheels, bamboo vegetable baskets, bamboo ladders, bamboo rafts, flagpoles, bamboo stools, bamboo stacks, bamboo mats, bamboo mats, bamboo pads, bamboo fans, toothpicks, bamboo cups, fishing rods, bamboo umbrellas and so on
2. Pure handicrafts: bamboo wind chimes, bamboo carvings, bamboo woven products, bamboo musical instruments and so on
3. Building materials: bamboo plywood, bamboo flooring and so on
4. Other material uses: bamboo charcoal, bamboo vinegar liquid, bamboo pulp papermaking, medicinal use of bamboo leaves and so on
Industrial material use
Although bamboo material has many advantages such as fast growth, high yield, strong toughness and abundant reserves, because of characteristics such as hollowness, many nodes and easy longitudinal fracture, bamboo material performs far worse than wood in the field of industrial application.
In industrial application, the only bright spot may be bamboo pallet products. It is understood that the bamboo pallet products produced by Nanjing Hanqing Bamboo Industry Co., Ltd. have advantages such as being exempt from fumigation, high strength, strong load-bearing capacity, strong impact resistance, recyclable, easy to repair, waterproof, mildew-proof and insect-proof. They give 100% play to the characteristics and advantages of bamboo material and are in line with the concept of green environmental protection.
In the near future, in addition to pallet products, bamboo boards will also be widely used in various fields such as packaging boxes, boards for vehicles and ships, boards for containers, building templates and courtyard landscaping. By then, the industrial application value of bamboo will be brought into full play.
Natural and rustic: Since ancient times, bamboo has been a symbol of elegance, chastity and auspiciousness. In the eyes of poets, bamboo is a green line of poetry; under the brush of painters, bamboo is a green scroll painting; in the hearts of farmers, bamboo is green wealth.
Characteristics of its functions and uses
Protecting nature: Bamboo is a highly renewable resource, and its growth cycle is short (only 3-5 years). As long as it is harvested reasonably, it will not damage the ecological environment, but can better promote the regeneration of bamboo resources, protect the environment, and achieve evergreen mountains and sustainable use.
Advocating nature: Bamboo flooring and bamboo decorative boards cater to the trend of modern people returning to simplicity and advocating nature. Bamboo has clear grain, a beautiful board surface, natural color, rustic dignity, pleasant bamboo fragrance, and an elegant and impressive texture.
Sturdy and durable: Bamboo flooring retains the excellent inherent characteristics of bamboo material, such as high density, good toughness and high strength. It has features such as durability, flame retardancy, bending resistance, insect resistance and corrosion resistance. It is not only beautiful but also durable, and is recognized as a new type of decorative material.
Medicinal or therapeutic value of bamboo
The medical information and health dietary information on Hugarden are for reference only and cannot be used as a basis for diagnosis or medical treatment. Any health problem should be consulted with professional medical personnel, and the treatment of any disease should follow a doctor's advice.
Ultimate flower-protecting mission: To love yourself, start from reality and strictly follow a doctor's advice. Toward illness, do not be careless, do not delay, do not give up hope; face it bravely, warm the silent world with love, and care for the flower field in your heart with care.
Ingredients
Bamboo shoots are a common delicacy; the seeds of bamboo are called bamboo rice, and because they are not easy to obtain, they are a precious delicacy. In addition to being ornamental, bamboo is also an excellent building material. Bamboo shoots are a delicacy and can be made into dried bamboo shoots or canned goods. They mainly appear as bamboo shoots and dried bamboo shoots. China's excellent main bamboo species for shoots include moso bamboo and early bamboo in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and ma bamboo and green bamboo in the Pearl River basin, Fujian, Taiwan, China and other places. Bamboo shoots are rich in protein, amino acids, fat, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, iron, carotene, and vitamins B1, B2 and C, and are excellent health vegetables.
The medical content on Hugarden is for reference only and cannot be regarded as professional advice. Any health problem should be consulted with professional medical personnel.
Medicinal use: Bamboo green is a Chinese medicinal material that clears heat and cools the body. The juice obtained by roasting fresh bamboo slices over fire is called bamboo sap, used to treat cough and reduce phlegm. The underground stem of bamboo is generally called bamboo rhizome, and when it emerges from the ground it is called gou or shoot. Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica quotes Lu Dian as saying: "Within ten days it is gou, after ten days it is bamboo, so the character xun follows xun." This accommodates its rapid growth. There are also many kinds of shoots, including winter shoots, spring shoots and whip shoots, all of which can be used as food. In Jiangsu and Zhejiang, people traditionally use insect-bored shoots as medicine, calling them "insect shoots." Tender bamboo leaves, bamboo shavings and bamboo astringent are all used medicinally.
Medicinal information on bamboo
[Nature and flavor] Sweet, slightly cold, non-toxic.
[Ingredients] Shoots contain protein, amino acids, fat, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, iron, carotene, and vitamins B1 and B2.
[Functions] Treats wasting thirst, promotes urination, clears the lungs and reduces phlegm. Insect shoots are an effective diuretic, suitable for edema, ascites, swelling of the feet due to beriberi, edema from acute nephritis, wheezing cough, diabetes, wasting thirst with irritability and heat, and so on.
[Edema and ascites (including ascites caused by nephritis, heart disease, liver disease and advanced schistosomiasis)]
Insect shoots and aged bottle gourd 60 grams each, decoct in water and take. Or add 30 grams of winter melon rind for better effect. [Measles, rubella or chickenpox in children at the initial stage, with fever, thirst and difficult urination] Stew fresh bamboo shoots with crucian carp to make soup and have the child drink it; it has the effect of promoting rapid eruption and early recovery.
[Chronic diarrhea, chronic dysentery, rectal prolapse] Eating congee cooked with fresh bamboo shoots is effective.
[Deficiency irritability and insomnia] Tender bamboo leaf rolled cores 30 grams, rush pith 3 grams, decoct in water and drink before sleep.
[Postpartum deficiency heat and irritability, heat in the palms and soles] Fresh bamboo shavings and bamboo leaf cores 30 grams each, decoct in water and take.
[High blood pressure, headache, flushed face, thirst, restless sleep at night] Fresh bamboo leaf cores 30-60 grams, Prunella vulgaris 15 grams, sophora flower 9 grams, decoct in water and take.
[Head sores in children, impetigo, yellow water sores]
Jujube and bamboo leaf soup:
From a local folk prescription, use red dates plus washed bamboo leaves to boil soup and drink it to produce a cooling effect. It is especially useful for children under 10 years old who develop small red dot-like blisters on the body due to excessive internal heat.
Bamboo flowering. Bamboo flowering
Whether in China or India, there are legends that bamboo flowering brings disaster. China often used to say, "When bamboo flowers, great disaster will surely come," and India also has the legend that "when bamboo flowers, famine occurs."
Once bamboo flowers, nearby bamboo will also flower one after another, causing large areas of bamboo forest to die. For some animals that rely on bamboo as a staple food, this is bound to cause devastating harm. The first to suffer is the giant panda.
The saying often repeated by older people, "When bamboo flowers, great disaster will surely come," is not merely superstition or rumor. Scientists have found that before some catastrophic droughts, bamboo will flower on a large scale and wither. It is said that this is because bamboo can sense certain changes in the soil, so it spreads seeds to migrate to suitable new land, or waits in the original place for an appropriate time (such as after the drought). In addition, there is also the phrase "the iron tree blooms."
On the other hand, bamboo rice (the seeds of bamboo) is also excellent food for rodents. Scientists once calculated that when the once-in-50-years bamboo flowering cycle occurred in northeastern India, the number of rats surged 4 times. The sudden increase in the rat population caused the grain stored in villages to be consumed rapidly, leading to famine. Therefore, there is also a view that the occurrence of famine was only because of the sudden increase in rodents, not because of natural disaster.
As for which view is true, there is still no definitive conclusion at present.
The flowering cycle of bamboo is quite long, usually ranging from several decades to more than a hundred years. The flowers of most bamboo types are the color of withered grass and are shaped like rice ears.
It is known that Cephalostachyum scandens in the Gaoligong Mountains has bright red flowers.
Cultural background of bamboo
Bamboo. It is said that the great painter Zheng Banqiao would not live without bamboo, leaving behind a large number of bamboo paintings and poems praising bamboo. The great poet Su Dongpo left the famous saying, "I would rather eat without meat than live without bamboo."
Cultural significance
Confucius's student Zilu believed that he was like bamboo from the southern mountains, which after being sharpened could pierce the thick hide of a rhinoceros, meaning that his natural qualities were very good. The Family Sayings of Confucius says: "Bamboo from the south of the mountain, without being bent, is straight by itself; cut it to make arrows, and when shot they reach far." Records of a Journey to Lingnan: "People of Lingnan should feel ashamed before bamboo. Those who eat use bamboo shoots, those who shelter use bamboo tiles, those who carry use bamboo rafts, those who cook use bamboo firewood, those who clothe use bamboo skin, those who write use bamboo paper, those who wear shoes use bamboo shoes. It can truly be said that not a single day can pass without this gentleman!" Wang Huizhi lived in an empty house and had bamboo planted, saying: "How can a single day pass without this gentleman?" [2]. Old Book of Tang: Biography of Li Mi: "Exhaust the bamboo of Mount Pan, and the writing of crimes would still not be exhausted; release the waves of the East Sea, and the flow of evil would still be hard to finish." Wang Bo's Rhapsody on Kindly Bamboo: "Like the linked bonds of mother and child, like the affectionate friends within a household; fearing that standing alone in beauty may bring danger, it often keeps itself in groups." Su Dongpo said, "One may make one's meals lack meat, but one may not make one's dwelling lack bamboo. Without meat one becomes thin; without bamboo one becomes vulgar." [3] He also praised bamboo in Record of the Ink Lord Hall: "Through wind and snow's severity, observe its conduct; through rocky cliffs' ruggedness, realize its integrity. When successful, it flourishes without arrogance; when unsuccessful, it grows thin without disgrace. In groups it does not lean; standing alone it does not fear." Wang Dangui's Qin Lou Yue: Ode to Bamboo: "Its nature is chaste and pure; its soft branches and tender leaves are worth painting. Worth painting, it accompanies throughout the four seasons the wind and moon of the thatched cottage. Lofty and aloof with strong integrity, naturally distinct; empty-hearted forever without withering. Without withering, green shade sways, and auspicious sounds are pure and unmatched."
In Chinese bird-and-flower painting, the four gentlemen of plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum are important subjects, each representing certain virtues. The bamboo painted by Northern Song painter Wen Tong was famous far and near.
Chinese idioms often mention bamboo: green plums and bamboo horses, sweeping forward like splitting bamboo, and having a fully formed plan in mind. Bamboo, pine and plum together are called the "Three Friends of Winter." The hollowness of bamboo was extended by Chinese literati to mean "humility." Bai Juyi's Record of Cultivating Bamboo says: "The bamboo heart is empty, and through emptiness it embodies the Way. When a gentleman sees its heart, he thinks of applying emptiness and receptivity." The nodes of bamboo were extended to mean "moral integrity." The cold resistance and evergreen nature of bamboo are regarded as "unbending" [4]; the tall uprightness of bamboo is regarded as "lofty"; the elegant grace of bamboo is extended to mean "gentleman."
Legend says that before the invention of firecrackers, people used the bursting sound of burning bamboo to drive away evil spirits. Therefore there is the idiom "zhu bao ping an" (bamboo announces peace), meaning seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster.
Humanistic value
Bamboo: It displays integrity. Though not thick and strong, it is upright and firm; it does not fear severe cold or intense heat, and remains evergreen through the ages. Bamboo is the incarnation of the gentleman, the gentleman among the "Four Gentlemen." The seven virtues of bamboo: The bamboo body is upright and straight, preferring to break rather than bend; this is called uprightness. Although bamboo has nodes, it does not stop advancing; this is called enterprising spirit. Bamboo is straight outside and hollow inside, with a mind broad as a valley; this is called humility. Bamboo has flowers but does not open them, facing the sky with a plain face; this is called simplicity. Bamboo stands aloof and independent, supporting heaven and earth; this is called eminence. Although bamboo is called eminent, it is not like the pine; this is called sociability. Bamboo carries culture and transmits it through the ages, enduring hardship without complaint; this is called responsibility.
Bamboo announces peace. Bamboo: bamboo slips. Zhu bao: an old term for family letters. It refers to a family letter reporting safety. Tang Dynasty, Duan Chengshi, Further Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang, Zhi Zhi Xia: "In the north, only Tongzi Temple had one clump of bamboo, only a few chi tall. It is said that the temple administrator would report the bamboo's safety every day."
Bamboo flourishing and pine luxuriant. The foundation is as stable as bamboo, and the branches and leaves are as luxuriant as pine. Used as a congratulatory phrase for longevity or the completion of a palace or house, and also as a metaphor for family prosperity. Book of Songs, Minor Odes, Si Gan: "Like bamboo's root clump, like pine's luxuriance." Ming Dynasty, Fan Shiyan, Record of Grinding Loyalty: "May blessings of longevity be enjoyed; may bamboo flourish and pine be luxuriant, and may the days and months be long."
Green plums and bamboo horses. Green plums: green plum fruit. Bamboo horse: a bamboo pole ridden as a horse by children. A metaphor for the innocent feelings of boys and girls playing together. Tang Dynasty, Li Bai, Ballad of Changgan: "My lover came riding a bamboo horse, around the bed playing with green plums. Living together in Changgan Lane, two little ones without suspicion."
Dense woods and tall bamboo. Xiu: long. Dense and tall woods and bamboo groves. Jin Dynasty, Wang Xizhi, Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Gathering: "This place has high mountains and steep ridges, dense woods and tall bamboo."
Sweeping forward like splitting bamboo. The situation is like splitting bamboo: after the upper end is split, the lower part separates along with the blade. It describes successive victories with no obstruction. It also describes an unstoppable momentum. Book of Jin, Biography of Du Yu: "Military prestige has already been aroused; it is like splitting bamboo: after several nodes, it separates at the touch of the blade." Ming Dynasty, Shi Nai'an, Water Margin: Chapter 99: "Guan Sheng and the others, taking advantage of the momentum, drove straight on, sweeping forward like splitting bamboo, and captured Dagu County."
Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. A collective name for seven literati and famous scholars during the Wei and Jin dynasties. Wei Clan Spring and Autumn Annals: "Xi Kang was friendly with Ruan Ji of Chenliu, Shan Tao of Henei, Xiang Xiu of Henan, Ruan Ji's nephew Xian, Wang Rong of Langya, and Liu Ling of Pei. They wandered in the bamboo grove and were known as the Seven Sages."
Pine, bamboo and plum - the Three Friends of Winter. Pine and bamboo pass through winter without withering, and plum endures cold and blooms, hence the Three Friends of Winter. Ming Dynasty Cheng Minzheng wrote Rhapsody on the Painting of the Three Friends of Winter.
Bamboo Mountain Lyrics. Title of a ci collection. Written by Jiang Jie (style name Bamboo Mountain) at the end of the Song Dynasty.
Bamboo Slope Lyrics. Title of a ci collection. Written by Zhou Zizhi of the Song Dynasty. Zhou Zizhi, courtesy name Shaoyin, style name Retired Scholar of Bamboo Slope, once flattered Qin Hui, and contemporary opinion held him in low regard.
Bamboo and white silk. Bamboo slips and white silk, referring to books and history. Zhang Xie, Miscellaneous Poems, No. 9: "Wandering thoughts in the garden, sending words in the forest of ink and writing." Baopuzi, On Immortals: "How much more so the ranks of immortals, filling bamboo and silk."
Bamboo Branch Lyrics. A name of a piece in the Yuefu "Modern Songs." Also called Bamboo Branch. A Tang Dynasty teaching workshop tune name. Later used as a ci tune name. Sometimes the ci and tune are jointly called Bamboo Branch. Originally a folk song from the Bayu area (now eastern Sichuan). Tang poet Liu Yuxi adapted new lyrics based on folk songs, singing of the scenery of the Three Gorges and love between men and women. Afterward, many poets of successive dynasties wrote Bamboo Branch Lyrics, mostly also singing of local customs and love between men and women.
Listening to the Qin at the Bamboo Dock. Full name: Qin Youran Listens to the Qin at the Bamboo Dock. A zaju play script. Written by Shi Zizhang of the Yuan Dynasty. It tells the story of the Daoist nun Zheng Cailuan playing the qin at a bamboo dock, meeting the scholar Qin Xiuran, and the two admiring each other and marrying.
Cultural symbols
When culture is mentioned, people naturally think of writing, art, science and so on, but the emergence and development of culture cannot be separated from a certain natural ecological environment and is inevitably affected by many factors such as geography, climate, and animal and plant resources. Among the plant resources that have had the deepest influence on Chinese culture, none is more so than bamboo. The British scholar Joseph Needham put it well when he said that East Asian civilization is a "bamboo civilization." Chinese literati and writers endowed bamboo's growth characteristics, such as hollowness, uprightness and year-round greenness, with personified spiritual and cultural symbols such as elegance, purity, humility, integrity and uprightness: "In severe cold and intense heat it is always fresh; beaten by rain and broken by wind, it does not bend its body. In one night it draws itself up a thousand chi; reaching the clouds, its proud bones are even more humble. (Zuo Heshui)" Painting bamboo became an important type of Chinese bird-and-flower painting, and Zheng Banqiao of the Qing Dynasty in China was world-famous for painting bamboo.
In Chinese gardens ancient and modern, there is almost no garden without bamboo. If one lives with bamboo, then the secluded bamboo grove brushes the window, and clear air fills the courtyard; bamboo shadows dance gracefully, their posture enters painting, and green leaves do not wither through winter, elegant and unrestrained. Through the ages, "In life it is valuable to have bamboo in one's heart" has become the preference of many literati and refined scholars. They often use plum, orchid, bamboo and chrysanthemum to express their lofty and unconventional tastes, or as a mirror for their own moral character, such as the contemporary poet Zhou Tianhou's Ode to Bamboo: "Bitter integrity is cherished by oneself; after rain there is even less dust. In the cold of the year, discuss the gentleman; green weaves the new spring."
China is the hometown of bamboo. There are about 100 to 1,000 or more species of bamboo in the world, while China has 37 genera and about 500 species, mainly in the Sichuan region. Not only are bamboo and bamboo material resources abundant, but the history of cultivating and using bamboo is also long. An ancient folk song, the Dan Ge, sings: "Cut bamboo, continue bamboo, fly earth, chase meat." This shows that as early as 7,000 years ago, our ancestors already used bamboo to make arrowheads, crossbows and other weapons for entertainment, hunting or war. Bamboo has formed an indissoluble bond with human cultural life. In the daily clothing, food, housing and transportation of the Chinese nation, the graceful figure of bamboo is everywhere. The great writer Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty once exclaimed: "Those who eat use bamboo shoots, those who shelter use bamboo tiles, those who carry use bamboo rafts, those who cook use bamboo firewood, those who clothe use bamboo skin, those who write use bamboo paper, those who wear shoes use bamboo shoes. It can truly be said that not a single day can pass without this gentleman."
Bamboo: It displays integrity. Though not thick and strong, it is upright and firm; it does not fear severe cold or intense heat, and remains evergreen through the ages.
Bamboo is the incarnation of the gentleman, one member of the "Four Gentlemen."
Bamboo, plum blossom and pine are the "Three Friends of Winter." Pine symbolizes evergreen longevity, bamboo symbolizes the way of the gentleman, and plum symbolizes icy purity and jade-like cleanness.
The ten virtues of bamboo
The bamboo body is upright and straight, preferring to break rather than bend, called uprightness; although bamboo has nodes, it does not stop advancing, called enterprising spirit; bamboo is straight outside and open inside, with a mind broad as a valley, called humility; bamboo has flowers buried deep, facing the sky with a plain face, called simplicity; bamboo flowers once in a lifetime, without regret even in death, called dedication; bamboo stands in the wind like jade, supporting heaven and earth, called eminence; although bamboo is called eminent, it is not like the pine, called sociability; bamboo's texture is like stone, only then can it become a vessel, called firmness of nature; bamboo transforms into tallies and credentials, held by Su Wu, called moral conduct; bamboo carries culture and transmits it through the ages, enduring hardship without complaint, called responsibility.
When we stroll along a park path, or pass by a riverbank ferry, or tour the deep secluded places of famous mountains and great rivers, we may be happily intoxicated by the beautiful scenery, or we may be exhausted from the journey. Suddenly, several plants with strong, upright nodes come into view: they stand straight and dignified, yet seem somewhat shyly to lower their heads, nodding and bowing to us; when a gentle breeze blows, that natural swaying up and down seems like bowing to us in salute. [6]
We suddenly feel: nature is also so gracious. We share one blue sky above and prosper together on the earth, yet they know how to let go of arrogance and live in harmony, and are so humble and courteous even to passing strangers...
Related Verses
Ode to Bamboo (Qi Dynasty, Xie Tiao)
A clump of bamboo before the window, clear and green, uniquely wondrous. Southern branches interlace with northern leaves, new shoots mingle with old stems. Moonlight filters through, now sparse, now dense; the wind rises and the stalks sway low again. Blue birds fly through unhindered, young fledglings peer at it alone. I only regret the sheaths that follow the wind, the roots and stems forever parted.
Bamboo (Liu Xiaoxian)
Bamboo grows in the empty wilderness, its tip rising a hundred xun into the clouds. No one appreciates its lofty integrity, it can only embrace its own steadfast heart. It is ashamed to be stained with the tears of the Xiang Consorts, and shamed to become a zither of the upper palace. Who will fashion a long flute, and let it pour forth a dragon's chant?
Ode to the Tender Bamboo Before the Steps (Chen Dynasty, Zhang Zhengjian)
Emerald clouds gather at the tips, forming clumps on their own; light blossoms and tender shoots yearn to leap into the void. Along the winding terrace, sideways branches repeatedly shed their sheaths; by the steps, sparse leaves force their way against the wind. If you would know where it embraces its joints and becomes a dragon, it must be on the mountain path at Gebei.
Ode to Bamboo (Tang Dynasty, Li Qiao)
Tall stalks on the banks of the Chu River, graceful and lovely, holding the breath of dawn. White blossoms sway in the wind's shadow, green joints stir with dragon patterns. Leaves sweep the southeastern sun, branches brush the northwestern clouds. Who knows that on the Xiang River, weeping tears, one thinks alone of you.
Planting Over a Hundred Bamboo on the Left Side of the Prefectural Study (Tang Dynasty, Linghu Chu)
In my study dwelling I planted bamboo by the north window, where the plain wall newly opens to reflect its fresh green. The blue mist lies close by where I walk with my medicine, the green shade reaches deep before my sleeping curtain. The wind startles the dawn leaves like the sound of rain; the moon passes over spring branches as if trailing mist. The old man recalls the mountains, his heart briefly eased; retired from office, he sits at leisure facing her grace.
Facing Bamboo at the White Sand Lodge on an Autumn Day (Tang Dynasty, Xu Hun)
Soughing, it braves the snow and frost, its deep green unlike that of the Three Xiang.
Sparse shadows shift on the wall as the moon moves, cold sounds fill the hall with wind. Rolling up the blind, autumn comes even earlier; resting high on my pillow, the night is especially long. Suddenly I recall the road by the Qin Stream, where ten thousand stalks are now so cool.
Tasting Bamboo Shoots for the First Time, Presented to Those at the Gathering (Tang Dynasty, Li Shangyin)
Tender sheaths and fragrant buds first emerge from the grove; in Yuling their price is weighed as heavy as gold. The imperial capital's land and sea should hold countless treasures, yet how can one bear to cut a inch of gold that would pierce the clouds?
Ode to Bamboo (Tang Dynasty, Zheng Gu)
It suits the mist, suits the rain, and suits the wind; it brushes the water, hides the village, and mingles with the pines. Transplanted, it rustles from the distant temple; washed clean, its sparse clarity reveals the peak ahead. Invading the steps, moss splits as spring buds burst forth; around the path, sedge is slight while summer shade grows dense. Blaming the apricot blossoms for their many moods, several branches pierce the emerald green, well-matched together.
Bamboo in the Mountains on a Spring Day (Tang Dynasty, Pei Shuo)
Several stalks of dark green, shaped like dragons, steep and towering, must be made to grow in this place. Countless wild flowers cannot bloom here; half the mountain's cold hues contend with spring.
Ode to Bamboo (Tang Dynasty, Zhang Bi)
Tree colors connect with the clouds as ten thousand leaves unfold; the noble scion never tires of planting them throughout the courtyard. Braving the frost, its utmost integrity goes unseen; all day it keeps an empty heart, awaiting the phoenix. Who will allow its elegance to add to inspired verse? It pities its own free and easy spirit, rising above the dust. Before the vermilion gates there is much idle ground everywhere, just right for transplanting clouds and tending the emerald moss.
Frosted Bamboo Pavilion (Song Dynasty, Su Shi)
The new bamboo, shedding its sheaths, cannot hold itself upright; yet already it has the graceful bearing of winter's cold. If you would see its stern intent before the frost, you must wait for autumn wind when the powder falls.
Ode to All That Is in the Garden (Song Dynasty, Su Zhe)
In cold lands bamboo does not grow; even if it grows, it often seems sickly. I dig up roots and plant them by the secluded steps; how fiercely they open their leaves. With the graceful bearing of ice and snow, scattered shadows in wind and sun. In its lone depth one sees true splendor, one stalk matching a thousand qing. It makes one recall the riverside, where dense and towering it clings strongly to the cliffs. Without wind the sheaths drift down on their own, rustling and rattling along the desolate path.
New Bamboo (Song Dynasty, Yang Wanli)
The east wind plays its tricks, patching the broken mountain; overnight it blows and adds several stalks of jade. Half-shed of its brocade robe, still half-wearing it; the sheath-dragon does not yet believe it fears the spring cold.
Ode to the New Bamboo of East Lake (Song Dynasty, Lu You)
I plant thorns and weave a fence to guard it carefully, nurturing its cold emerald to mirror the rippling waves. A clear breeze sweeps the ground and autumn arrives first; the red sun crosses the sky and at noon one does not notice. When it sheds its sheaths, at times one hears a rustling sound; as it releases its tips, one first sees leaves spreading thick. With official duties idle, I want to come here often; my pillow and mat I will have follow me everywhere.
Wild Bamboo (Yuan Dynasty, Wu Zhen)
Wild bamboo, wild bamboo, utterly lovable, with branches and leaves spread out in true form. All its life it has kept itself far from brambles, walking cliffs and hanging precipices, piercing stone dikes. With an empty heart it embraces integrity by the mountain's river, sporting gracefully with clear wind and white moon. What of its cold tips a thousand chi high? By the Wei River and the Qi Bay there is much mist and smoke.
Song of New Shoots (Ming Dynasty, Yue Dai)
The yellow birds fill the grove with ceaseless song; beneath the trees the new shoots stand level with a person. The spring wind closes the gate as mountain hares run; by daylight dew drips, startling the bamboo partridge. Three days of rain and spring has already passed; near the stone bed a few more have been added. They race to turn their heads and horns toward the blue clouds, heedless of the green moss breaking before the steps.
Bamboo and Stone (Qing Dynasty, Zheng Xie)
Biting firmly into the green mountain, never letting go, its roots are set deep in broken rock. Through a thousand grindings and ten thousand blows it stays firm and strong, letting you blow from east, west, south, and north.
Bamboo (Qing Dynasty, Zheng Xie)
One joint after another, a thousand branches gather ten thousand leaves. I myself do not bloom, to avoid provoking bees and butterflies.
The Flower Language of Bamboo
Through the ages, in the minds of Chinese people, bamboo has been a symbol of resilient uprightness and modest integrity, and an ideal of character. In Chinese tradition, bamboo symbolizesthe elasticity of life, longevity, happiness, and spiritual truth。
Bamboo, elegant and spirited, slender and graceful, ever green and unfading, symbolizes eternal youth and youthfulness; in spring (spring mountains) bamboo is free and upright, clear and refined, with the bearing of a noble gentleman; bamboo is hollow, symbolizing modesty. Its character is modest and able to hold itself; bamboo's nature is to bend without breaking, to break without snapping, symbolizing the principle of being yielding yet firm, with intent to reach the clouds, strong against wind and snow, rising again after being bowed down; bamboo's joints are always visible, its tips reaching high, likened to lofty integrity; noble and uncommon virtue, with joints from birth, regarded as a symbol of moral integrity. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Jiuling praised bamboo, saying, "People respect its high integrity, the world knows its modest heart" ("Harmonizing with Huangmen Lu Shilang's Ode to Bamboo"). Indifferent to fame and gain, aloof and pure, upright, this is the character pursued by Chinese literati. In the Yuan Dynasty, Yang Zai's "Inscribing Ink Bamboo": "Its flavor is already indifferent, its color is not flattering. Growing alone among cliffs and valleys, it has this cloud-piercing spirit."
Bamboo, towering and upright, graceful and varied, stirs the imagination and prompts deep reflection. She is strong and upright, plain and unadorned, neither haughty nor humble. She "roots in the great earth, drinks deep of sweet springs, and has joints even before emerging from the soil. Branches stretch across Cloud Dream, leaves beat the blue sky, and even where it reaches the clouds it remains modest." She is regarded as the embodiment of the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, symbolizing lofty integrity.
In Japan, bamboo is a mark of truth and devotion. Throughout the East, all regions use bamboo as a writing tool; for Buddhist and Daoist writers and artists, bamboo's straight lines and hollow structure are themselves profoundly symbolic. South American indigenous tribes use bamboo as knives and axes to cut other objects, and also use bamboo to make blowguns and musical instruments for sacred music. Some tall bamboos are greatly worshipped and revered as the tree of life. In Africa, bamboo also holds a very sacred symbolic status, because people use bamboo to perform circumcision on males.
Other Information About Bamboo
Bamboo Clappers
Also called "kuaiban shu." One of the forms of storytelling performing arts; during performance the hands strike bamboo clappers, accompanying with a brisk rhythm.
Bamboo Weaving
Baskets and basketwork made from woven bamboo strips; the handle portion is the bamboo's whip.
Bamboo Flute
A flute made of bamboo.
Qingzhu, a place name, in Linyi City.
Bamboo Raft
A raft bound together from thick bamboo. Also called "bamboo raft."
Bamboo Shop
A shop that sells bamboo.
Galloping to the bamboo shop, calling out. -- Qing Dynasty, Shao Changheng, "Remaining Drafts of Qingmen"
Bamboo Slips
Bamboo strips used for writing in ancient times.
Bamboo Basket
Drawing water - a metaphor for expending effort with no result.
1. Tang Erguguai and Tang Chunzao, father and son, year after year drew water with a bamboo basket, their hands empty. -- Liu Shaotang, "Moth-Eyebrows"
2. Also phrased as "drawing water with a bamboo basket - all in vain."
Drawing water with a bamboo basket - all in vain. "Drawing water with a bamboo basket" is also phrased as "drawing water with a bamboo basket - all in vain."
Alas, this undertaking has been drawing water with a bamboo basket - all in vain! -- Liang Bin, "The Red Banner Spectrum"
Bamboo Blind
A blind made of bamboo, especially one used at a doorway.
Bamboo Grove
Taking shelter from the sentries in the bamboo grove. -- Song Dynasty, Wen Tianxiang, "Postscript"
Bamboo House
A small building constructed mainly with bamboo as the building material.
Hobby Horse
A children's toy, typically a pole with a horse-head model at one end, sometimes with a wheel at the other end, which the child straddles and pretends to ride. A prop bound from bamboo strips, used in the folk dance "bamboo horse lantern."
Bamboo Strips
Flat bamboo strips used for weaving bamboo articles.
Bamboo Tiles
Bamboo tiles refer to mahjong; bamboo articles are objects made from bamboo.
Bamboo Zither
A Malayan musical instrument made from suspended bamboo tubes.
Bamboo Shoots
Tender developing buds sent up from the bamboo's rhizome, cut as a vegetable once they emerge from the ground, especially eaten by Chinese and Japanese people.
Bamboo Vine
A kind of smilax with a four-angled stem and a star-shaped chaff-like base.
Bamboo Tube
A vessel made from bamboo material for holding liquids. Carrying a bamboo tube and a copper-wire cage. -- "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio: The Cricket"
Zhuxi
A pavilion name. Outside the north gate of Yangzhou City.
The fine spot of Zhuxi, the famed capital of Huai East. -- Song Dynasty, Jiang Kui, "Slow Song of Yangzhou"
Zhuyeqing (Green Bamboo Leaf Snake)
A venomous snake with a green body, yellow-white stripes running from below the eyes along both sides of the belly to the tail tip, and a red-brown tail tip. It lives in trees in temperate and tropical regions.
A slightly yellow-green liquor made by soaking Fenjiu as the base liquor with various medicinal herbs.
Arrowroot (Maranta)
A plant of the Maranta genus native to tropical America, a perennial herb with a fleshy rhizome rich in starch, which can be boiled for food or used to extract starch; cultivated in southern China. A general term for plants of the Maranta genus.
Bamboo Paper: a kind of paper made from tender bamboo as material.
Bamboo shoot soup (bamboo clappers); bamboo lady (a hollow, holed bamboo-woven bed item); bamboo hamper (a bamboo-woven carrying box); bamboo sheath (the skin of bamboo shoots; shoot clothing); bamboo box (a bamboo chest); bamboo whip (a bamboo stick; a split bamboo strip at one end, used as an instrument of punishment for beating people); bamboo fence (a bamboo hedge); bamboo skin (shoot shell); bamboo mother (a bamboo rhizome bearing shoot buds); bamboo worker (a craftsman who makes bamboo articles); bamboo artisan (a handicraftsman who weaves articles from bamboo); bamboo mat (a bedding item woven from bamboo strips); bamboo matting (coarse bamboo mat); bamboo hat (a hat woven from bamboo silk or bamboo strips).
Bamboo Law
Criminal law provisions recorded on bamboo slips.
Bamboo and Silk
The bamboo slips and white silk used by the ancients to record writing.
Bamboo Books
In ancient times there was no paper; events were recorded and written on bamboo slips.
Bamboo Musician
A musician who plays bamboo-made instruments.
Bamboo and Flesh
Silk generally refers to instrumental and vocal music.
Bamboo Pipe
Refers to bamboo-made wind instruments such as the xiao and the flute.
Bamboo Pictures
April Guide to Home Flower Growing
Courtyard Flower Arrangements(1) Types of flowers suitable for courtyard display. In regions south of the Jianghuai, after Qingming Festival a considerable number of potted ornamental plants can be displayed in the courtyard, such as Norfolk Island pine, camellia, five-needle pine, hall crabapple, spectabilis crabapple, sago palm, king coconut, bamboo palm, fishtail palm, areca palm, Canary Island date palm, Buddhist pine, bird of paradise, rubber tree, Swiss cheese plant, Philodendron bipinnatifidum, banana shrub, heavenly bamboo, cast-iron plant, Chinese yew, red maple, ornamental peach, longevity peach, Japanese aralia, cymbidium, palm tree, and Japanese aucuba. In northern regions, courtyards can display Japanese black pine, lacebark pine, Thunberg pine, Chinese juniper, spruce, yew, Jimei plum, beauty plum, leatherleaf mahonia, Huashan pine, Butia palm, windmill palm, European dwarf palm, and Chilean wine palm.
(2) Propagation of courtyard flowers. 1. Sowing. Courtyard herbaceous flowers suitable for sowing in April include: spider flower, cockscomb, garden balsam, scarlet sage, globe amaranth, dahlia, Aster, China aster, kalanchoe, petunia, snapdragon, red-yellow chrysanthemum, and summer cypress. Courtyard woody flowers suitable for April sowing include: sand-stored magnolia species, banana shrub species, manglietia species, red maple species, and buckeye species; camellia species; others include wisteria, wintersweet, summer sweetshrub, heavenly bamboo, and coral ardisia. Sand-stored seeds should be sown when the seed coat has just cracked. For seeds with harder shells, such as wintersweet, wisteria, silk tree, redbud, and Chinese tulip tree, they can first be soaked in cool water for 24 to 36 hours before sowing. Seeds of Japanese aralia, when ripe at the end of April, can be sown immediately upon collection. Nipplefruit can be sown and raised in a plastic tunnel in April. Bulb flowers such as tuberose, gladiolus, and dahlia can be planted out at this time.
2. Cuttings. From south to north, most types of easy-to-root flowering trees whose leaf buds have not yet sprouted can be propagated by cuttings, such as leatherleaf mahonia, Mahonia, Japanese aralia, boxwood species, heavenly bamboo, spectabilis crabapple, plum (cultivars such as palace pink and green calyx), Buddhist pine, pomegranate, crape myrtle, firethorn, spiraea, and rose species. Chrysanthemums can also be propagated by cuttings at this time.
3. Grafting. Flowering trees that can be grafted in April include: Aucuba, and golden bullet; on female plants such as ginkgo, grafting branches of a male plant that has already flowered can promote fruiting and avoid the trouble of pollinating every year. Woody flowers such as hall crabapple, Midget crabapple, wintersweet, dragon-claw pagoda tree, black locust, ornamental peach, osmanthus, red maple, banana shrub, white orchid, and longevity peach can also be grafted in April. In addition, in southern regions, Christmas cactus, golden barrel cactus, and Gymnocalycium can also be grafted at this time.
4. Division. Courtyard flowers that can be divided in April include: Mahonia, leatherleaf mahonia, heavenly bamboo, fernleaf hedge bamboo, spectabilis crabapple, winter jasmine, pomegranate, fig, purple magnolia, banana, canna, dahlia, iris, spring orchid, autumn zephyr lily, lotus, and water lily.
5. Layering. Courtyard flowers and trees that can be propagated by layering in April include: plum, wintersweet, red maple, gardenia, banana shrub, camellia, Buddhist pine, osmanthus, and spectabilis crabapple.
(3) Management of courtyard flowers and trees. 1. Management of flowers and trees planted in the courtyard. (1) Transplanting. This month is the best time for transplanting flowers and trees planted in the courtyard. Whether deciduous or evergreen, as long as their leaf buds have not unfolded or their new shoots are not long, they can be transplanted with a soil ball, such as southern magnolia, camphor tree, banana shrub, ginkgo, white magnolia, buckeye, photinia, persimmon, wintersweet, plum, red-leaf plum, and red maple. Generally the soil ball diameter is about 6 to 7 times the trunk diameter, and depending on the degree of root damage, some branches and leaves should be pruned as appropriate to reduce leaf transpiration. For plants that have already sprouted and grown shoots, transplanting should increase the soil ball diameter and at the same time heavily prune their branches and leaves. Plum should not be transplanted after its leaves have unfolded, otherwise it easily leads to poor growth or death. Tree peony and herbaceous peony should not be transplanted in spring. Ground-planted herbaceous flowers such as pot marigold, verbena, garden balsam, scarlet sage, zinnia (at 4 to 5 true leaves), petunia, California poppy, snapdragon, iris, autumn zephyr lily, variegated dwarf lilyturf, hosta, radermachera, dwarf lilyturf, and sacred bamboo can also be transplanted at this time.
(2) Pruning. After flowering, plants such as wintersweet, plum, forsythia, peach, and winter jasmine should be cut back from the base of the branches that have already flowered, and their overall tree shape adjusted; for ground-planted flowering shrubs such as redbud, hall crabapple, spectabilis crabapple, serviceberry, Chinese quince, Hubei crabapple, banana shrub, summer sweetshrub, and flowering almond, shaping and pruning should be carried out, cutting away water shoots, misshapen branches, inner canopy branches, weak branches, and diseased and pest-infested branches, to help form a good flowering plant shape.
(3) Fertilizing. Whether evergreen flowers and trees or deciduous shrubs, as long as they have not yet sprouted and grown shoots, at this time a ring-shaped ditch can be dug around the outer root zone and buried with composted organic fertilizer (cake fertilizer) or compound fertilizer, using 0.5 to 1 kg of fertilizer per plant.
(4) Pest and disease prevention. Cut away branches and leaves on the plants already infected by pests or disease, clear away the dead branches and fallen leaves on the ground, and destroy them in a centralized way. For Rosaceae flowers and trees prone to disease, such as rose, spectabilis crabapple, hall crabapple, Midget crabapple, Chinese quince, and pear trees, promptly spray Bordeaux mixture to prevent the occurrence of rust and brown spot disease.
2. Management of potted flowers in courtyards (1) Repotting For plants that were not repotted in March and whose leaf buds have just begun to swell but have not yet unfurled, repotting can be done in April. When repotting, do not break away too much of the old soil or prune the root system excessively. Such species include ginkgo, Norfolk Island pine, golden larch, Buddhist pine, Japanese black pine, Japanese white pine, Japanese red pine, five-needle pine, Osaka pine, galal wood, pomegranate, crape myrtle, etc. For plum plants that have already unfurled their leaves, repotting is generally not carried out.
(2) Shaping Money tree seedlings in southern regions can be dug up at this time, spread out to air-dry for 1 to 2 days to lose some moisture, and then the stems of 3, 5, or 7 plants (odd numbers) can be braided into a plait. After braiding, press down with a heavy object to fix the shape, then select a suitable pot for planting.
White orchid (Michelia alba) must not be pruned indiscriminately, as its branches have a large pith. After pruning, a dead section of branch will appear below the cut. For this reason, the cut should be made at least 5 cm away from the retained strong bud.
For trident maple bonsai, pruning should also not be done at this time, otherwise a large amount of wound sap will be produced, causing the branch below the cut to die back and affecting the normal growth of that branch.
Ornamental plants suitable for shaping in April include: Buddhist pine, serissa, Chinese juniper (Sabina chinensis), true cypress, banyan, ginkgo, five-needle pine, Japanese black pine, galal wood, Hall crabapple, cypress, Chinese elm, Japanese bush cherry, water poplar, oak, white ash, red bark elm, winged spindle, plum, etc. For pine bonsai, the male and female cones should also be removed promptly to reduce nutrient consumption.
(3) Watering In April, potted flowers and trees brought outdoors need increased watering to encourage rapid shooting and leaf unfolding. For bonsai such as five-needle pine, Japanese black pine, Japanese white pine, and Japanese red pine, watering should be controlled and more sunlight given to prevent needles from growing too long. The principle is to water only when dry, water less and mist more. In southern regions, sago palm should also undergo "water withholding" to prevent newly emerging leaves from growing too long and affecting ornamental value. For camellias, azaleas, and poinsettias (plants that have been cut back and repotted) that have just finished flowering, as well as epiphyllum, orchid cactus, plum, white orchid, jasmine, pearl orchid, kumquat, etc., special attention should be paid to controlling watering to avoid waterlogging in the pot causing root rot.
(4) Fertilizing For Chinese rose, camellia, plum, wintersweet, azalea, spring orchid, Cymbidium hybridum, and Cymbidium sinense, since flowering has ended and roots have just begun to produce tender fibrous roots, fertilizer concentration should not be too high. If using cake fertilizer water, a concentration of about 10% is suitable; with urea and monopotassium phosphate solution, 0.2% to 0.3% is best. If the fertilizer concentration is too high, it will damage the tender fibrous roots. A small amount of fully fermented solid organic fertilizer or multi-element quick-acting compound granular fertilizer can also be buried in different parts of the pot.
(5) Pest and disease prevention For potted orchids, when bringing them outdoors, carefully check whether scale insects are parasitizing the leaves, and spray the plants with Bordeaux mixture or mancozeb to prevent leaf diseases. For tree stump bonsai such as pines and cypresses, Chinese elm, Chinese fringe flower (Loropetalum), Japanese bush cherry, plum, and trident maple, while removing and burning diseased and pest-infested branches and leaves, apply lime sulfur mixture or similar preservatives to areas on the trunk where xylem is exposed. For potted plants that were previously infected with whiteflies or scale insects indoors, such as bitter orange, kumquat, lemon, gardenia, and camellia, timely spray omethoate or similar pesticides after bringing them outdoors.
(1) Flowering potted plants suitable for indoor display In April, flowers still in bloom and suitable for indoor display include: camellia, pocketbook flower, phlox, European primrose, California poppy, longevity peach, peony (flowering plants), nasturtium, pansy, Cattleya orchid (spring-flowering), Dendrobium orchid (spring-flowering), bird of paradise, verbena, freesia, daffodil, red calla lily, tulip, Chinese rose, and Cymbidium faberi. Foliage plants include: Aspidistra, Norfolk Island pine, sago palm, coin tree, cinnamon, rubber tree, variegated saxifrage, croton, fiddle-leaf fig, golden-heart Dracaena, ponytail palm, pothos, Monstera deliciosa, Nephthytis, bamboo palm, asparagus fern, snake plant, purple-backed oyster plant, bromeliads, Japanese aucuba, and Japanese fatsia.
(2) Propagation of balcony flowers Propagating flowers on a balcony is generally done in flower pots, with relatively small quantities. Due to special reasons such as strong wind and low humidity on balconies, management is more troublesome, but with care, small-scale propagation can still be done for one's own potted plants or to give to flower-loving friends.
1. Sowing If a small amount of asparagus fern or clivia seeds are collected, they can be sown in pots. In colder northern regions, they should first be placed indoors, and only moved to the balcony when outdoor temperatures reach 10°C to 15°C. In addition, a small amount of scarlet sage, marigold, globe amaranth, primrose, winter cherry, petunia, cockscomb, and impatiens can also be sown in pots on the balcony, to decorate the balcony and indoors when they bloom, keeping your surroundings in continuous bloom, like spring all year round.
2. Cuttings On a balcony, cuttings can generally only be done for a few flower species in large pots. Cutting media can include clean sandy loam, fine sand, vermiculite, or perlite. In my personal experience, a medium mixed with water-leached rice husk and fine sand at a 1:1 ratio works well for balcony pot cuttings. Ornamental plant species suitable for cutting propagation on balconies in April include: finger citron (southern), Chinese hibiscus, geranium, Chinese rose pomegranate, poinsettia, rubber tree, jasmine, pearl orchid, red-back eupatorium, nandina, hydrangea, small-leaf Buddhist pine, galal wood, miniature Chinese rose, firethorn, true cypress, Chinese juniper, Japanese aucuba, banana shrub, and Japanese fatsia. For evergreens, remove as many leaves as possible, and after cutting, cover with plastic film to retain moisture. In northern regions, they can be placed indoors in front of a sunny window to avoid freezing.
3. Grafting Grafting on a balcony is somewhat more difficult than in a courtyard. The rootstock must be planted in a pot the previous year and required to grow vigorously to favor graft survival. Flower species that can be grafted on a balcony in April include: (1) Stem grafting: red maple, five-needle pine (northern), Chinese rose, golden bullet persimmon, variegated Japanese aucuba, wintersweet (when buds are wheat-grain sized), longevity peach, ornamental peach, etc.; (2) Approach grafting: wintersweet, osmanthus, etc. Stem grafting requires bagging to retain moisture to improve graft survival rate. Crab claw orchid, golden barrel cactus, and red crown cactus can also be grafted on a balcony or indoors at this time.
4. Division This is the most commonly used method for propagating flowers on a balcony. In April, from south to north, when outdoor temperatures reach 10°C to 15°C, flower species that can be propagated by division on a balcony include: bird of paradise, spider plant, iris, Monstera deliciosa, clivia, Aspidistra, sago palm, orchids, hostas, Chaenomeles speciosa, bromeliads, snake plant, bamboo palm, pearl orchid, arrowroot, agave, sword fern, umbrella plant, and peace lily. It is worth noting that for suckers separated from the mother plant, including sago palm, bromeliads, clivia, etc., plants with roots can be directly potted, while rootless offsets should first be buried in moist fine sand to encourage rooting. Only after good roots have developed should they be planted in growing medium, otherwise the offsets are prone to rot, leading to division failure. In addition, for cut offsets with less-than-ideal roots, besides applying wood ash, charcoal dust, or sulfur powder to the cut surface for preservation, a portion of branches and leaves should also be appropriately pruned to maintain the balance between root water absorption and leaf transpiration, ensuring successful division propagation. For clivia and bromeliads after division, after planting they can be covered with a plastic bag, opened every 1 to 2 days for ventilation, to increase local humidity, which is very important for balcony flowers. For leaf-less and root-less offsets separated from the sago palm mother plant, creating a dark environment favors rooting and leaf emergence.
5. Layering Ornamental plant species suitable for air layering on balconies in April include: Buddhist pine, rubber tree, red maple, banana shrub, camellia, white orchid (southern), azalea, wintersweet, plum, and Aglaia (southern). If 100 ppm to 200 ppm ABT rooting powder (No. 1 or No. 2) solution is applied to the girdled and wounded part of the branch, then wrapped with peat moss, etc., it favors healing of the girdled area.
(3) Management of balcony potted flowers 1. Repotting Whether in the south or north, as long as the balcony temperature reaches 10°C to 15°C, most potted flowers can be moved to the balcony, but before bringing them outdoors there should be a period of acclimatization. Whether evergreen or deciduous, as long as the potted plant has not yet sprouted or has only sprouted slightly, repotting can be done at this time. Generally, small potted plants are repotted once a year, and large potted plants every 2 to 3 years. Common flower and tree species that can be repotted in April include: white orchid, Aglaia, pearl orchid, jasmine, rubber tree, Monstera deliciosa, Philodendron bipinnatifidum, camellia, plum, wintersweet, crabapple, clivia, Aspidistra, Norfolk Island pine, Schefflera, bougainvillea, and beautiful areca palm. Generally when repotting, some yellowed or misshapen branches and leaves should be removed, and a portion of aged or rotted roots should be pruned. For white orchid repotting, even most of the remaining old leaves should be removed to promote new leaf emergence.
Potted herbaceous flowers suitable for balcony potting in April include: five-color pepper, petunia, pot marigold, verbena, California poppy, amaryllis (bulb), iris, marigold, dahlia, and caladium.
2. Pruning For azaleas, camellias, etc., after flowering promptly remove faded flowers and buds, and lightly prune diseased and pest-infested branches and misshapen branches. For wintersweet, plum, ornamental peach, and forsythia after flowering, the current year's branches should retain only 1 cm to 2 cm at the base, with the rest entirely cut off. For bromeliads, Cymbidium hybridum, etc., promptly cut off the spent stems after flowering and repot. For clivia, cutting off the flower stalk requires special care, as a slight mistake can easily cause the plant to rot at the core. The method is: stop watering the pot for a week to let it dry out; after cutting off the spent flower stalk, do not let the sap seeping from the wound flow into the leaf tube. The pot can be tilted in advance, watering controlled, and after the wound dries, right the pot, avoiding dirty rain or dirty water from pouring into the leaf tube, and let the remaining flower stalk naturally dry and wither.
3. Watering In April, balcony potted flowers should keep the potting soil moist, with more misting and controlled watering, because temperatures are still low at this time, and overwatering must not be allowed to cause root rot. When temperatures rise to around 20°C, increase watering, generally once a day. A small number of potted flowers placed indoors can be misted and watered with cool boiled water, but residual tea leaves must not be poured into the flower pots.
4. Fertilizing Fertilizing balcony potted flowers requires special care. Types with strong offensive odors must not be used, as this is not conducive to the cleanliness and hygiene of one's own balcony and can also affect relations with neighbors; one must not act arbitrarily. For balcony flower growing, fully decomposed and sun-dried solid organic fertilizer granules can be used, as well as slow-release multi-element compound granular fertilizer, fertilizer sticks, and urea and monopotassium phosphate solutions. The overall principles are: balance nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium; apply thin fertilizer frequently; use both inorganic and organic fertilizers; and avoid raw fertilizer, concentrated fertilizer, and heavy fertilizer.
5. Pest and disease prevention In mid-to-late April, newly emerged adult whiteflies will appear on bitter orange, kumquat, and finger citron plants, and can be killed by spraying low concentrations of pesticides such as decis and fenvalerate. For foliage plants such as Aspidistra, rubber tree, and sago palm, a small number of scale insects parasitizing the plants should be promptly wiped off with a damp cloth or removed with clear adhesive tape. For Chinese rose plants, spray Bordeaux mixture once every half month to prevent diseases such as black spot.