Introducing Bamboo: Genus by genus

Introducing Bamboo: Genus by genus

Bamboo is more than just an amazing plant. It’s more like an entire family, made up of nearly 2,000 plants. But technically, according to the botanical taxonomy, bamboo is actually a sub-family within the grass family, Poaceae. The subfamily Bambusoideae...
Bamboo: A tree or a grass?

Bamboo: A tree or a grass?

“I think that I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree,” said the American poet Joyce Kilmer. Oak, spruce, or redwood, a tree is a most wonderful thing to behold, tall, mighty, and teeming with greenery. You probably wouldn’t speak as glowingly...
Genus Bambusa: Paragon of bamboo

Genus Bambusa: Paragon of bamboo

If you walk into a bamboo nursery or a botanical garden and see a specimen labeled Bambusa vulgaris, and another identified as Bambusa chungii, you might assume that Bambusa is the genus that includes all species of bamboo. But in fact, it’s one of about 100...