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There is
about 1100 species of bamboo, divided in about 90
genuses. They are found in heights from zero to 4800
meters. Their colors are variated: black, red, blue,
purple, and having green and yellow as the main colors. Resist
from lower than zero celsius (mainly leptomorphs or
'runners') to tropical (mainly pachymorphs or
'clumpers'). They grow as little grasses or reache
40 meters high.
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Bamboo
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| Family |
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Gramineae
or Poaceae |
| Subfamily |
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Bambusoideae |
| Tribes |
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Herbaceous
(Olyreae) and woody (Bambuseae) |
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here
we will see woody bamboos
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| Major problem
in correctly identifying bamboo species is the rare flowering.
Popular culture gives many names to the same species, and
others are unknown. Bamboo species identification studies (taxonomy)
in West atarted in the 19th century, through work of great botanists
as Darwin, Munro and Camus. In early 20st century F.
A. McClure started a life long research, dedicated to bamboo.
And today we have new taxonomists, as Lynn Clark
and Thomas R. Soderstrom, from USA, and Ximena Londoño,
from Colombia. In Brazil we got Prof. Tarciso Filgueiras,
at Brasília, grass specialist, and his students. Also Prof.
Sérgio Sarahyba, from IBAMA. We have to mention the
efforts of now retired Dr. Tatiana Sendulsky, Merostachys
specialist, who in her long and prosperous carrer, had been a
pioneer in Brazil. |
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| In
Brazil we see many native and foreign species. Bambusa
vulgaris is a foreign species very spread here, but originated
in China, and has thick and green culms. A variation of
this species is the Bambusa vulgaris "vittata"
(see in picture above), also called here "brazilian bamboo
", "imperial" or "green and yellow",
and has great aesthetic value. Bambusa genus has pachymorph
rhizomes, in clumpers. Bambusa genus is very used in paper production
and object making, also as food. |
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