17 
Part V.] Pearson: Note on the Utilization of Bamboo. 
place in such a report, were it not for the fact that there appears to be 
doubt, in the mind of those interested, as to whether bamboo clumpa 
will stand repeated cutting. 
Briefly, the mode of growth is as follows. The seed on germinating 
sends out a small shoot in the rains, completing its full growth in two or 
three months. This shoot may be of the thickness of a piece of straw 
and from 6 inches to 2 feet high. Next rains it puts out one or more 
shoots slightly larger both in height and diameter than the original 
shoot. Then, according to the species, it either again puts out more small 
shoots, generally speaking larger than those of the previous year, or puts 
out one or two distinct stems (culms) of several feet in height, and of an 
inch or more in girth. After that, given a normal monsoon, each year’s 
culms tend to increase in height and diameter until the plant reaches 
maturity, by which time the culms put out each year have reached 
their maximum size. On the flowering of the bamboo the whole clump 
dies and new plants spring up from the seed. (A few species are an 
exception to this rule such as Bambusa lineata&nd Ochlandra stridula.) 
The various cycles at which the different species flower will be dealt 
with hereafter. When the mature clump puts out a new culm during 
the rainy season, the diameter of the culm rising from the ground is the 
same as that when it reaches its full length; in other words, it does not 
increase in girth while putting on its height-growth. It grows 
extremely quickly attaining its full height in a few weeks or at the most 
during the monsoon months. 
Size of culms .—The number of culms put out by a clump varies 
according to its age and size and also with the species. A large 
vigorous clump of Kyathaung (Bambusa polymorpha) may put out as 
many as 20 new culms a year. The amount of storage material which the 
rhizomes or root-stock of the clump has accumulated during the period 
of rest is fixed so that if the clump puts out an abnormal number of 
culms in any one year their size will be affected and they will be little, if 
any, longer or of greater girth than the previous year’s shoots. On the 
other hand, if relatively few shoots are put out and the reserve material 
for their growth is sufficient, the size of the new shoots may be 
larger than the stems of the previous year. Again, if a number of 
bamboo clumps are inspected, there will be found here and there abor¬ 
tive shoots which have never reached maturity or attained their full 
height. Such abnormal growth is due to the root-stock having failed to 
supply sufficient nourishment to the culm to enable it to attain maturity. 
[ 175 ] 
