In an earlier post (Fred Dill Wildlife Sanctuary 6: Bamboo grove) I noted that I was surprised to see such large groves of bamboo in Putnam County as I had always thought of it as a tropical plant.

I just came across some more – lots of it. I love the bright green color.

Fascinating stuff bamboo. I didn’t know much about it so I looked it up. It seems that it’s the largest member of the grass family. It also grows incredibly quickly – certain species can grow three feet in 24 hours, that’s 1.5 inches per hour, or about one inch every forty minutes. You could almost sit and watch bamboo grow.

In India it’s a symbol of friendship and in China a symbol of decency and integrity. A number of Asian cultures believe that humanity arose from a bamboo stem.