Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on Earth. The growth of a bamboo plant can reach 10 centimeters in a single day.
Il Bamboo it is the fastest growing plant on Earth. The growth of a bamboo plant can reach 10 centimeters in a single day. Some species grow even faster so that the phenomenon can be observed with the naked eye. But the flowering of bamboo it still remains a mystery.
While growth is very rapid, its flowering is very slow. When it comes to flowering, bamboo is perhaps one of the slowest plants in the world. This is why it is a special and very rare event.
Most bamboos indeed it blooms once every 60 years. Flowering intervals can even exceed 100 years. There is even talk of a time interval that can reach up to 130 years.
This is a phenomenon that largely remains still a mystery to botanists. Furthermore, bamboo plants that derive from the same mother bloom at the same time all over the world. Even if they are found in different places, in fact, they carry with them the same genetic makeup of the mother plant.
It is as if the bamboo plants, daughter of the same mother plant, have a clock able to kick off a collective flowering. Experts speculate that collective flowering serves to increase the survival rate of bamboo.
Once the bamboo has reached its life expectancy, it has produced seeds and flowers, the plant dies. It is believed that the production of seeds requires the plant an enormous amount of energy to lead it to die. According to another theory, the mother plant dies to make room for the new bamboo seedlings that will arise from seeds.
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Photo source: mizostory.org
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The flowering of bamboo can represent a catastrophic event in the poorest countries since the phenomenon attracts hundreds of predators, above all rodents, in search of nourishment. After eating bamboo, rodents attack the cultivated fields in the area and in a few days risk destroying all crops. For the local populations where bamboo is widespread, it is therefore a good thing that the blooms of this plant are so rare.
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