It is close to the pond, like jade. It is better to change than to change, and to be sincere and sincere.
It is free and unrestrained among all things, its cultivation is unique among others, its chaste posture once braved the snow, and its high abstinence soared into the clouds.
It is outside of Tsinghua University, indifferent, elegant and refined, not trying to flatter the world.
It is the famous "gentleman" written by countless literati and poets - bamboo .
Don’t think you know bamboo very well. It has many little secrets. For example, you think it is closely related to trees, but in fact it is family with rice. For example, you think it grows slowly, but in fact it can grow taller. A completely different person overnight, so today we will take a look at how many secrets bamboo still has.
The fastest growing plant in the world
Bamboo is tall and straight, elegant and clear. People are confused by it and always think it is "a tree" - woody plant . However, it is just a burly "one tree". "It's just grass", rice is its real "relative".
When you see this, whether you believe it or not, whether you recognize rice or not, bamboo is a grassy plant with its roots growing red. It's just that this child does grow a little faster. Standing next to the wheat and rice in "Family", he does look like an outsider.
How fast does bamboo grow? It is a veritable "thousand-mile horse" in the plant world - one of the fastest-growing plants in the world. Some bamboos can grow as fast as about 1 meter in one day. Currently, the tallest bamboo can reach 24 meters, a proper "bamboo grass group". It seems that excellence and gregariousness are like fishes and bear's paws, you can't have both.
Flowers bloom only once in a lifetime
People yearn for the spring when a hundred flowers bloom and the sky is filled with fragrance. They place their expectations for a beautiful and happy life and their noble qualities on flowers, and use flowers to express their unspeakable love and longing. They are budding, giving birth to new hope; they are blooming, representing the inheritance of life and a promising future.
Throughout the ages, we have endowed the plum blossom with perseverance and unyielding character, showing the orchid indifferent to fame and fortune, noble and proud style, and praising the chrysanthemum's fearlessness of frost and loneliness, and they are both one of the "Four Gentlemen" Bamboo, but its flowers carry the tragic color of death and the heroic beauty.
The pictures are: plum blossom, orchid, chrysanthemum, picture source: China Natural Herbarium
Bamboo does not bloom easily. They only bloom once in their life, which also means the end of life. Each small flower of bamboo has one palea and one outer palea, several or no scales, 3, 6 or more stamens, the stamens are composed of filaments and anthers, and 1 pistil, pistil consists of It is composed of ovary and style, with 1 ovary and 1 to 3 styles. The florets are arranged in two rows and are born on a short and thin flower axis. One or more florets plus glumes form a spikelet, and many spikelets form an inflorescence.
Bamboo flowering, picture from AmusingPlanet
Exactly how long bamboo can live is still a mystery, most bamboos can grow vegetatively for more than 60 years. Interestingly, most bamboos seem to have a secret message, causing bamboos of the same species to bloom at the same time regardless of their distance. This is because the bamboos in this area are "originally from the same stem" and they are connected by underground stems ( bamboo whip ), so a bamboo forest on a mountain will bloom at the same time. So when you see vast tracts of bamboo forest, they may all belong to the same family!
Such a sudden large-scale "blooming event" caught both humans and giant pandas off guard, because the natural renewal of bamboo after flowering and death takes 8-1 0 years, and our giant pandas feed on certain bamboos, so the death of large-scale bamboo blooms will starve giant pandas. For example, it was reported in the 1980s that the large-scale flowering of arrow bamboo caused more than 200 A "famine" broke out among wild giant pandas.
Why does bamboo die after blooming?
As early as more than 2,000 years ago, the "Book of Mountains and Seas" contained records about the strange phenomenon of bamboo dying after blooming, "Bamboo flowers will wither every year." Therefore, the large-scale flowering and dying of bamboo is also a hot topic of research.
Both humans and pandas are very interested in the subject of bamboo dying after blooming, but they have not found the answer. Scientists have put forward many hypotheses, which mainly focus on the causes of flowering, the physiological mechanism of flowering, and the molecular biology of flowering.
There have always been two explanations for the flowering of bamboo: internal causation theory and external causation theory.
The internal cause theory believes that bamboo flowering is regulated by a unique biological clock. Bamboo flowering has a certain periodicity, and the period depends on its internal development rhythm. It will bloom after it grows to physiological maturity.
For example, it is said that in the " Bamboo Manual ", there is a record that "Bamboo also changes roots in sixty years, and the roots often become strong and wither." This highlights the 60-year time cycle and proposes that the reason for the flowering is "easy." root". American scholars have recorded that the flowering cycle of Bamboo japonica is approximately 43 years.
The picture shows the flowering branches of moso bamboo. Picture source: China Plant Image Library
The picture shows the stems and branches of bamboo. Picture source: China Plant Image Library
The external cause theory mainly believes that bamboo flowering is the result of the induction and influence of external harsh environments, especially drought. High temperatures and waterlogging.
American scholar Campbell once studied the flowering specimens and literature of Chinese Himalayan bamboo, and finally found that drought is one of the murderers of this species of bamboo. Hu Yi and other researchers pointed the finger at the abnormal climate of warm winters and cool summers in the "arrow bamboo flowering incident."
With the advancement of scientific research, scientists have also proposed some other theories besides the "internal and external causation theory", namely the "cyclical aging and rejuvenation theory" and the " nutrition hypothesis".
cyclical aging and rejuvenation theory, Soviet scholar Klenge believes that the vitality of bamboos gradually decreases with growth, and their aging process of gradual transition from vegetative growth to reproductive growth is not continuous, and is often referred to as "rejuvenation" Interrupted by the opposite process, that is to say, when the bamboo becomes an old man, it may return to "20 years old", and when it ages again, it may regain its youth. Therefore, the aging and rejuvenation of bamboo are cyclical.
Nutritional hypothesis, researchers believe that bamboo blooms under conditions of lack of nutrients. When the nutrients required for growth are insufficient, they tend to flower and bear fruit and transition to reproductive growth.
Don't worry. Mr. Panda
The one who is most worried about the death of bamboo should be the giant panda. After all, "having enough food and wine" is the greatest happiness for a panda. So is there any way to solve this problem? In order to make bamboos live longer, scientists can only use artificial methods to stop the blooming and death of bamboo forests that have already bloomed, so that they can resume vegetative growth and rejuvenate their youthful vitality.
Some current effective methods include: providing sufficient nutritional conditions for bamboos, plowing and loosening the soil in a timely manner, cutting down bamboos that have bloomed in time to avoid affecting the vegetative growth of other bamboos, paying attention to the impact of diseases and insect pests on bamboos, and removing them in a timely manner. Spraying pesticides, etc.
After these prevention and control measures, the problem of bamboo flowering has been effectively controlled, and the "health status" of bamboo has also been significantly improved. Seeing the eternally youthful bamboo, we can finally touch the furry head of the panda and say: "Don't worry, Mr. Panda."
Source: Popular Science China, Invasion
