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Bamboo uses
In many places, bamboos
provide versatile raw materials
that meet most of people’s
daily needs for housing and
furnishings, for tools, hunting
weapons and utensils, for fuel
and even for food.
On an industrial scale, they are the source of timber
for construction, ranging from scaffolding to the rods
in reinforced concrete. Paper and cardboard made
from pulped bamboo stems are becoming more
widespread. Even soft textiles made from bamboo fibre have recently become available. Among the more diverse uses in the
past are as light bulb filaments, record needles and
pipes in oil drilling. Living bamboos have their uses
as hedging, for soil
stabilisation and as
ever more popular
ornamental plants.
Bamboos at home
"Bamboo is my brother" - Vietnamese proverb |
Sturdy bamboo canes are ideal for house
frameworks, with walls formed from panels of
woven split bamboo and attached using bamboo
pegs. The hollow canes can also be used as gutters
and pipes. Roofs are made from bamboo shingles or
leaf thatch. Split bamboos can also be woven into
flooring mats, window blinds, containers and fans.
Bamboos on a plate
Young bamboo shoots are harvested as a vegetable
and eaten either cooked or pickled. In China and
Japan, Phyllostachys heterocycla (also known as
Phyllostachys pubescens or P. edulis) is the most
popular source of bamboo shoots, but some species
require careful preparation as they release lethal
quantities of
cyanide when
cut. Food
wrappings are
made from the
broad leaves of
Sasa palmata forma nebulosa).
Making music
From drums to didgeridoos and from wind chimes
to fiddles, bamboo instruments make music around
the world. Among the wind instruments are the
Japanese shakuhachi flute, made from Phyllostachys
bambusoides, and panpipes from various species in
the South American Andes. One species of bamboo
has even been named for the instrument made from
it – the Madagascan valiha is a stringed tube zither
traditionally made from the bamboo Valiha diffusa.
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