SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom: Plantae
Divisi: Magnoliophyta
Order: Poales
Famili: Poaceae
Genus: Bambusa
Spesies: Bambusa sp.
VERNACULAR NAME
In Malaysia bamboo known as buluh or aur, bambus in German and Icelandic, in Spanish it is known as bamboo, in Philippines as kawayan, Chamorro as piao, in Mandarin as zhu , in Japanese as take, in Korean as dae or daenamu, in Myanmar as wa, in Vietnamese as Tre , in Hindi as baans or vainoo, in Persian as nei and in Indonesian as bambu .
MORPHOLOGY
Bamboos are grasses which well adapted to the environments in which they grow. They are often tree-like, with usually hollow, jointed, aerial stems called culms which are hard and smooth. Unlike trees, bamboo plants do not possess a single main trunk, but usually develop many equal-sized ones growing together in clump.They are capable of growing up to more than 30 m in length, but some may be less than 1 m tall. Some of the smaller bamboos may be trained as bonsai. Unlike the other grasses, bamboos have woody aerial stems that are often erect, leaning or sometimes climbing. They also possess usually stalked foliage leaf blades and their flowers usually have three or six stamens (male organs) and three lodicules (modified flower parts such as petals) and a gynoecium consisting of one to three stigmas at the tip of a style which in turn sits on an ovary which after pollination and fertilization becomes a fruit called a grain or caryopsis.
ANATOMY
Bamboo is a monocot plant as do not have a vascular cambium and do not exhibit secondary growth by the production of concentric annual rings. They cannot increase in girth by adding lateral layers of cells as in conifers and woody dicots. Instead, they have scattered vascular bundles composed of xylem and phloem tissue. Each bundle surrounded by a ring of cells called a bundle sheath. The structural strength and hardness of bamboo stems is due to masses of heavily lignified tracheids and fibers associated with the vascular bundles. The thick-walled fibers of bamboo contain up to five percent silica in the form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Although bamboo culms do not have the structure of true wood, they are very hard because they contain lignin and silica.
MYTHS AND LEGENDS
Several Asian cultures believe that humanity emerged from a bamboo stem. In the
Bamboo cane is also the weapon of Vietnamese legendary hero Saint Giong, who had grown up immediately and magically since the age of 3 years old because of his national liberating wish against the invaders.
ETHNOBOTANY ASPECT
Bamboo's long life makes it a Chinese symbol of longevity, while in
The pine tree, the bamboo, and the plum blossom are also admired for their perseverance under harsh conditions, and are together known as the "Three Friends in Winter". The "Three Friends" is traditionally used as a system of ranking in
Bamboo symbolizes the spirit of Vietnamese martial arts. Bamboo also symbolizes the Vietnamese hometown and Vietnamese soul; the gentlemanlike, straightforwardness, hard working, optimism, unity and adaptableness. Furthermore, some scientists even regard that Vietnamese culture is bamboo culture. A Vietnamese proverb says: "When the bamboo is old, the bamboo sprouts appear", meaning that
The Bozo, an ethnic group in
MEDICINAL USES
Bamboo is used in Chinese medicine for treating infections. It is also a low calorie source of potassium. It's known as madou for Indian witch doctors. It has also been known for its sweet taste and good source of nutrients. In Ayurveda, the Indian system of traditional medicine, the silicious concretion found in the culms of the bamboo stem is called banslochan. It is known as tabashir or tawashir in Unani-Tibb, the Indo-Persian system of Medicine. In English this concretion is called "bamboo manna". This concretion is said to be a tonic for the respiratory diseases. This concretion, which was earlier obtained from Melocanna bambusoides is very hard to get now and has been largely replaced by synthetic silcic acid. In most Indian literature, Bambusa arundinacea is described as the source of bamboo manna. (Puri, 2003).
CULINARY USES
The shoots of bamboo are edible. They are used in numerous Asian dishes and broths, and are available in supermarkets in various sliced forms, both fresh and canned version. A health warning is appropriate in the case of the shoots of the giant bamboo, as they contain cyanide. The Golden Bamboo Lemur ingests many times the quantity of toxin that would kill a human.
Malaysia and Indonesia, the shoots of bamboo are sliced thinly and then boiled with santan (coconut milk) and spices to make a dish called gulai rebung. Other recipes is mixed vegetables include bamboo shoots in coconut milk named sayur lodeh and lun pia 
or lumpia, a fried wrapped bamboo shoots with vegetables. Pickled bamboo also used as a condiment. Bamboo shoots of some species contain toxins that need to be boiled out before they can be eaten safely.
In china, the sap of young stalks tapped during the rainy season are fermented to make a sweet wine named ulanzi or simply made into a soft drink. The green-colour Chinese liquor called Zhuyeqing jiu has bamboo leaves as one of its ingredients. Bamboo leaves are also used as wrappers for zongzi, which usually contains steamed glutinous rice and other ingredients.
The empty hollow in the stalks of larger bamboo is often used to cook food in many Asian cultures. Soups are boiled and rice is cooked in the hollows of fresh stalks of bamboo directly over a flame. Cooking food in bamboo is said to give the food a subtle but distinctive taste. In
ermented bamboo shoot is used in various culinary preparations such as a sour vegetable soup named amil. It is also made into pancakes using rice flour. The shoots that have turned a little fiber are fermented, dried, and grounded to sand size particles to prepare a garnish known as "Hendua". It is also cooked with tender pumpkin leaves to make sag "Green Leaves" a green leaves recipe. People in
In addition, bamboo is frequently used for cooking utensils within many cultures. In modern times, some see bamboo tools as an eco-friendly alternative to other manufactured utensils.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT
Bamboo’s also are very significant plants in the development and evolution of musical wind instruments. The variety of flutes and panpipes used by Andean musicians of
A single shoot of bamboo can also be made into a wind instrument
named didgeridoo, that is indigenous to
ECONOMIC USES
In tropical climates bamboo is used in elements of construction because bamboo form a very hard wood which is lightweight and durable. In
Besides its use as a construction material, it is also used for fence making, bridges, toilets, walking sticks, canoes, tableware, decorative artwork carving, furniture, chopsticks, food steamers, toys, hats and martial arts weaponry including fire arrows, flame throwers and rockets. However, bamboo wood is easily infested by wood-boring insects unless treated with wood preservatives or kept very dry.
The fiber of bamboo has been used to make paper in
OTHER USES
Sharpened bamboo used to make tattoo in
In
bamboo also provide the primary diet for giant pandas. Giant pandas are indigenous to mountain forests of small and cold-tolerant bamboos in the 
