BULUH / AUR (BAMBOO)

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 Philippines creation myth, legend tells that the first man and the first woman emerged from split bamboo stems on an island, created after the battle of the elemental forces (Sky and Ocean). In Malaysian legends a similar story includes a man who dreams of a beautiful woman while sleeping under a bamboo plant. When he wakes up from his sleep and breaks the bamboo stem, he discovering the woman inside. The Japanese folktale "Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" tells of a princess from the moon emerging from a shining bamboo section.

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 India it is a symbol of friendship. In Chinese culture, the bamboo, plum blossom, orchid and chrysanthemum are collectively referred to as the Four Noble Ones. These four plants also represent the four seasons and in Confucian ideology, four aspects of the junzi ("prince" or "noble one"). Besides that, the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) Chinese scientist and polymath, Shen Kuo (1031-1095) used the evidence of underground petrified bamboo found in the dry northern climate of Yan'an, Shanbei region, Shaanxi province to support his geological theory of gradual climate change.

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 Japan. For example in sushi sets or accommodations at a traditional Japanese inn called ryokan. Pine is the first rank, bamboo is the second rank and plum is the third. In Japan, a bamboo forest sometimes surrounds structure whose main purpose is to house called a Shinto shrine as part of a sacred barrier against evil. Many Buddhist temples also have bamboo groves.

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 Vietnam will never be annihilated; if the previous generation dies, the children take their place. Therefore the Vietnamese nation and value will be maintained and developed eternally. Traditional Vietnamese villages are surrounded by thick bamboo hedges.

The Bozo, an ethnic group in West Africa are so named because boso means "bamboo house" in Bamana (Bambara) and the other West Mande languages. Besides that, bamboo is a symbol of East Asia, in fact many bamboo species grow naturally and are used extensively in human culture in sub-Saharan Africa.

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 Malaysia, glutinous rice cooked in bamboo or lemang is popular eaten with rendang spice-blended meats during Hari Raya festival.

In India, the tender shoots are fermented to prepare kardi. This fermented 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 Thailand eat bamboo worms which appear to be beetle larvae rather than true worms.

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 Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador are made from native bamboo species. In Japan, the national instrument named shaku hachi is made from the lower end of small-culmed bamboos. In the Philippine city, each of the 950 pipes of a remarkable organ is made from hollow bamboo culms.

A single shoot of bamboo can also be made into a wind instrument named didgeridoo, that is indigenous to Australia. In Indonesia, bamboo has been used for making various kinds of musical instruments. The most popular ones are the kolintang and the angklung. Each angklung consists of two or three bamboo tubes of different lengths tuned in octaves. The tubes are mounted in a frame so that a slot on each tube aligns into a cross-piece that strikes the tube when the instrument is shaken. Traditionally, large numbers of them are shaken for ceremonial.

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 Burma and Bangladesh, about fifty percent of the houses are made almost entirely of bamboo. In Java, woven bamboo mats and screens are commonly used in timber house frames. With modern polymer glues and bonding cements, bamboos are made into plywood, mat board and laminated beams.

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. Philippines has pipes made of bamboo. Bamboo also plays as traditional material used for fishing rods. Besides that, it’s used by traditional Malay to made material for catching fish called bubu.

The fiber of bamboo has been used to make paper in China since early times. A high quality hand-made paper is still produced in small quantities. Coarse bamboo paper is still used to make spirit money in many Chinese communities. The bamboo also used for knitting needles and bamboo fiber can be used for yarn and fabrics. Bamboo fabric is soft feel. South Africa sells towels made of a cotton and bamboo mix.

OTHER USES

Sharpened bamboo used to make tattoo in Japan and Hawaiian. Bamboo also used by traditional Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese to make smoking pipes and opium pipes. There are also many weapons made from bamboo, including bows and arrows and sharpened bamboo stakes. In Malaysia, native hunters fashion blowguns (blowpipes) from bamboo culms to shoot deadly poison darts. shinai is a wooden sword used in the Japanese martial art of kendo is made from several strips strong bamboo culms tightly bound together with string.

In Malaysia, bamboo used in traditional dance called bamboo dance. Two long bamboo poles are held horizontally above the ground at ankle-height. They are clapped together to a high-tempo drumbeat. Requiring great ability, dancers are required to jump over or between the poles without getting their feet caught.During Hari Raya festival,children loves to use bamboo to make 'meriam buluh'.It resembles large mounted gun that makes very loud sound.Bamboo can be made into poles and used as fruit pickers for tall fruit trees such as coconut and areca nut. Bamboo can also made container to saving money (tabung). Native hunters used bamboo container filled with water from the stream when they go for hunting. Besides that bamboo used to made traditional Malay kite or wau. Bamboos also have ornamental use in landscape garden.

Besides bamboo are useful and valuable plants for people, bamboo also provide the primary diet for giant pandas. Giant pandas are indigenous to mountain forests of small and cold-tolerant bamboos in the Yunnan province of southern China. The Himalayan red panda also feeds on bamboos along with a variety of other plants. Giant panda are completely dependent on bamboo for food, and they require enormous quantities of it. Pandas will eat other species of bamboo but apparently prefer the kinds that grow wild in their native habitat. Habitat isolation is a serious problem when bamboo species that giant pandas depend on suddenly flower and die.