Significance

• There are many myths and legends surrounding bamboo in Asian cultures. A common legend states that the human race emerged from a stem of bamboo. In other legends, bamboo is the choice weapon of the hero. Since bamboo has such a long lifespan, it is seen as a symbol of longevity. It is also one of the Four Noble Ones in Chinese culture. These four plants (bamboo, plum blossom, orchid, and chrysanthemum) are associated with the four seasons and the four aspects of junzi, the ideal person, in Confucian ideology.
  
  

Function

• Bamboo has many functions. Soft bamboo shoots and leaves are the staple food of the Chinese Giant Panda. Bamboo is also used to create bamboo charcoal, an environmentally friendly fuel. It is mostly used in China and Japan for cooking and drying tea leaves. It can also be used to purify water that is contaminated with chlorine. In one of Thomas Edison's first lamps the filament was made of carbonized bamboo. Bamboo is also used as a construction material.
  
  

Features

• There are more than one thousand types of bamboo in the world from 91 different genera. Most types of bamboo flower extremely infrequently. Some types of bamboo only flower every 60 to 120 years. When bamboo does flower, all the bamboo of a type in the area flower simultaneously. Bamboo is flexible, and, although it grows in cylindrical tubes, can be made to grow in other shapes using tubes.
  
  

Geography

• Bamboo is found in a number of climates and altitudes on five continents. Most bamboo is found in East Asia, extending to parts of northern Australia, India, and the Himalayas. Bamboo can also be found in sub-Saharan Africa, the southern portion of the United States, and South America. No bamboo is found in Europe, North Africa, Canada, Antarctica, western Asian, and the majority of Australia.
  
  

Misconceptions

• Lucky bamboo, the kind often sold in stores and kept indoors, is not actually bamboo. Although it looks very similar to real bamboo, lucky bamboo is actually a member of the lily family. Lucky bamboo grows in the dark, tropical areas of southeastern Asia and Africa. This plant is often associated with the Asian practice of feng shui. Feng shui masters take the birth dates of people and use complex equations to determine the best placement for homes and businesses down to the finest details.
  These plants are easily manipulated, and, with patience and perseverance, can be made into a spiral shape.