BAMBOO', Bambusa, a genus of grasses, of which most of the species attain a great size, many of them 20 or 30 ft., some 70 or 100 ft. in height. The species are numerous, and are found in tropical and subtropical regions, both of the eastern and western hemi spheres, They are of great importance to the inhabitants of the countries in which they grow. All of them have a jointed subterranean root-stock (rhizome) which throws up 10 to 100 stems. These are generally straight and erect; although one large species (B. agresti.1), common in dry mountainous situations in the s.c. of Asia, has crooked and sometimes creeping stems. The stems grow to their full height unbranclied, but afterwards throw out straight horizontal branches, especially in their upper parts, form ing a dense thicket; and many of them being strongly armed with spines, they arc planted for defense, presenting a formidable barrier, even against regular troops. Some of the smaller kinds are often planted as hedges. The stems are jointed like those of other grasses, very hard, but light and elastic, hollow, containing only a light spongy pith, except at the joints or nodes, where they are divided by strong partitions. They are, therefore, readily converted into water vessels of various sorts; and when the par titions are removed, they are used as pipes for conveying water. They are also much employed for house-building, for bridges. etc. The smaller stems are converted into walking-sticks, and are imported into Etimpe under the name of B. cane. both for that purpose and to be employed in light wicker-work. In China, the interior portions of the stein are used for making paper. Some of the species grow to the height of only a few feet; and almost all of them are slender in proportion to their height, although B. Guadua, a native of New Granada and Quito, has a trunk 16 in. in diameter. The stems of different species vary also very much in the thickness of the woody part, and so in their adaptation to different purposes. The external covering of the stem is, in all
the species, remarkably silicious; the stem of B. hthaearift is so hard that it strikes fire when the hatchet is applied. This species is a native of Ambovna and Java' its slender stems are polished, 111111 used 'for the stalks of tobacco-pipes. The leaves of some kinds are used for thatch, and the Chinese plait hats of them; of the external membrane of the stems of sonic, they make paper. From the knots of the B. there exudes a saccha rine juice, which dries upon exposure to the atmosphere, and which the Greeks called Indian honey. It is also sometimes named Tabath or nbasheer; but this 1111.111C more properly belongs to a phosphorescent substance, containing silica and lime, and possess ing remarkable properties, which forms in the joints of sonic species of B., and of other large grasses growing in dry situations. See TAnAsimEn.—The young shoots of some kinds of II. are eaten like asparagus, or are pickled in vinegar. Those of B. Tulda, a common Bengalese species, are used for these purposes when about 2 ft. long. The seeds of some species are used as rice, and for niakinr. a kind of beer. Bamboos are generally of very rapid growth. and they are often found in arid situations, which would otherwise be destitute of vegetation. It is not improbable that they may yet be emploved, where they do not naturally abound, to render districts productive which are now little else than deserts, in climates like those of Arabia, the n. of Africa, and Australia; and the quality of the grain of different species seems to deserve more attention than it has ever received. The species common in the West Indies (B. vutgaris) is supposed to have been introduced from the East Indies. A few species are found in the Himalaya, to an altitude of 12,000 ft., and a dwarf species from that region has been successfully tried in the open air in England.