BELIEVE it? Neither could I but hey, protecting the environment is a pretty big deal for me and I'd rather make use of a super eco-friendly alternative like this as opposed to buying wood and aiding in the cleansing of forests.
Yea yeah, I don't want to hear how my tiny efforts won't make a dent in the wood-chopping industry.
Either way. Moso Bamboo, also known as tortoise-shell bamboo is super cool.
(IMAGE SOURCE: hansfriederich.wordpress.com)
Not only is this type of bamboo super reliable as an alternative building material, but you can also use it for cooking.
Bamboo shoots are the edible parts which are well known to be used in a variety of Asian dishes including broths - please do cook them thoroughly though, as they do contain a toxin called cyanogenic glycosides.
It does get a bit scarier though - if WikiPedia can be trusted with this info: "The aglycone contains a cyanohydrin group. Plants that make cyanogenic glycosides store them in the vacuole, but, if the plant is attacked, they are released and become activated by enzymes in the cytoplasm. These remove the sugar part of the molecule, allowing the cyanohydrin structure to collapse and release toxic hydrogen cyanide. Storing them in inactive forms in the vacuole prevents them from damaging the plant under normal conditions."
Long story short, cook it properly or die!
To showcase how cool this bamboo is, below are a few buildings in which this type of bamboo has been used as a construction material:
Madrid Airport:
(IMAGE SOURCE: pinterest)
Great Wall House, China:
(IMAGE SOURCE: insteading.com)
Green School by Ibuku; Bali, Indonesia:
(IMAGE SOURCE: insteading.com)
So, the main goal is to use this bamboo at the moment as an aesthetic bonus to the back garden which sports a nasty looking white wall.
The long term goal, since I've got way too many seeds, is to, once they are tall and strong enough, use them to construct overhead cover for my bonsai trees - way too much bonsai love.
PS. Heads up though, this species can grow as tall as 28 meters in height.
