Various Species)

Specialty Crops for Pacific Island Agroforestry (http://agroforestry.net/scps) Farm and Forestry Production and Marketing Profile for Bamboo (various species) By Andrew Benton, Lex Thomson, Peter Berg, and Susan Ruskin USES AND PRODUCTS are usually shaped by hand or machine to ensure all four Bamboos produce woody culms that may be used whole as sides are straight, and then pressed together with glues into timber, or split for a multitude of wood products. The young laminated boards, which themselves can be shaped into shoots of some species can be eaten. The major usable mate- panels, parquet flooring, door and window frames, and so rials produced by bamboos are described below. on. These are widely produced in China, Japan, and India. Whole poles Splits Whole poles are widely used for construction, for scaffold- Splits are thin strips that are flexible enough to be woven. ing, frameworks, and other structural components of build- Broad, thin splits are often woveni nto mats, which can be ings (after proper preservation treatments). Pole sections pressed together into mat board. Narrower splits are fre- are also for round-pole furniture, handicrafts, and irrigation quently used in weaving handicrafts, furniture, and panels. systems. Bambusa vulgaris poles are widely used for tem- Splits of Schizostachyum glaucifolium are commonly used in porary building structures and rafts. The most promising Fiji for weaving into mats and interior panels. construction bamboos introduced into the Pacific islands Sticks include B. oldhamii, Dendrocalamus asper, D. giganteus and Sticks are produced by splitting laths, or thick splits, de- D. latiflorus, and Guadua angustifolia. B. tuldoides has excel- pending on the type of stick required. The process is often lent potential for making strong, long fishing poles. mechanized with hand- or electricity-operated machines. Laths Veneer Laths are thick strips of bamboo wood. Theymay either Veneers are produced by longitudinal shaving of the culm. be full thickness splits of a bamboo culm, or be further Veneers, laminations, and composites are used in surfboards, processed into plane-sided laths of bamboo wood which boats, and furniture. © Craig Elevitch © Craig Elevitch © Craig © INBAR © INBAR Top left: Structural components in a home, North Kona, Hawai‘i. Top right: Woven baskets for picking coffee, South Kona, Hawai‘i. Bottom left: Chairs made from small diameter poles, China. Bottom right: Bamboo flooring. Farm and Forestry Production and Marketing Profile for Bamboo by Andrew Benton, Lex Thomson, Peter Berg, and Susan Ruskin 2 Quindembo Bamboo Nursery © Craig Elevitch © Craig © Elevitch © Craig Left: Schizostachyum glaucifolium is native to some Pacific islands and widely introduced to others by ancient Polynesians. South Kohala, Hawai‘i. Middle: Traditional Hawaiian nose flute ‘ohe( hano ihu) made from Schizostachyum glaucifolium. Right: Traditional Hawaiian bamboo pattern stamps (‘ohe kapala) for decorating tapa cloth. Fibre and pulp Fodder Bamboo fibres are long and paper made from bamboo is Bamboo ��leaves make excellent fodder�� for�� livestock�� includ- usually mixed with 20–30% softwood pulp to give extra ing cows, horses, and pigs. strength. The fibres may also be utilized to make high-value clothing fabrics, using processes similar to those used to Charcoal manufacture of rayon. The chemical composition of bam- Waste products, including branches and sawdust, can be boo culms is ��holocellulose (��–��%), lignin (20–30%), sili- used to produce charcoal and charcoal briquettes. These ca (0.5–4%), pentosans (��–2�%), and ash (�–5[9])%. burn hot and clean. Bamboo charcoal is also highly adsorp- tive and is often used in purification systems, particularly Extracts the sugar industry, and in household odour treatments. Bamboo tar-oil (also occasionally called bamboo vinegar) is used as a component of various medicines. Scale of commercial production worldwide The latest data indicates thatinternational trade in bamboo Medicinal uses products is worth US$2.5�� billion per annum,�� t��he major im- Tabasheer, a silicaceous concretion found in the internodes porters being the affluent nations, particularly the EU and of some species, is used medicinally, as is leaf sap which is the U.S. China is the major exporter. It is not known how sometimes used as an eye drop. There aremany other uses much is imported into or exported from various Pacific is- by indigenous peoples, but no commercialisation is known. lands, but the quantities are expected to be relatively small. Edible shoots BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION Bamboo shoots are usually harvested at 30–�0 cm tall, and are peeled before cooking. Shoots of many of the clump- Preferred scientific names forming tropical species contain high levels of cyanogens, See Tables � and 2. and must be boiled well prior to consumption. Family Poaceae Specialty Crops for Pacific Island Agroforestry (http://agroforestry.net/scps) 3 Subfamily Branch buds are borne only at the nodes and the number of Bambusae branches that emerge varies by species. Branches also have nodes and internodes, and can produce branchlets. Leaves Common names are borne in groups at the tips of the branchlets. The local names for Bambusa spp., the most common Bamboo flowers and seeds are rare. Individual flowers are bamboo of the Pacific, include (PEIR 20�0): small, but borne in longitudinal inflorescences, and seeds of Carolinian: bwai, bwai most bamboos are about the size of a grain of rice. Chamorro: pi‘ao, pi‘ao palaoan, piao paloan Chuukese: iich DISTRIBUTION English: bamboo Native range Fijian: mbitu vavalangi French: bambou Only one bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris) is pantropical and Hawaiian: ‘ohe may be regarded as naturalized in many parts of the Pacific. I-Kiribati: te kaibaba This species was introduced into Fiji in �8�0 and Hawai‘i in Kosraean: bambu the early part of the �9th century. Two other widely cultivated Maori (Cook Islands): koe, ko‘e, ko‘e papa‘?, ko‘e tinit? and naturalized bamboos in the Pacific islands are Bambusa Marshallese: bae, koba blumeana and B. multiplex. Schizostachyum glaucifolium is Nauruan: ebarabaratu indigenous (e.g., Fiji) or an ancient Polynesian introduction Niuean: kaho palangi, kaho papalangi (e.g., Hawai‘i, Samoa) in the Pacific islands. Palauan: bambuu, esel Native species recorded for PNG include Neololeba attra Pohnpeian: pehri, pehri en sapahn and Nastus elatus and for Solomon Islands Nastus obtusus Pukapukan: koe and Schizostachyum tessellatum. Rakahanga-Manihiki: kohe, kohe Samoan: ‘ofe, ‘ofe Fiti, ‘ofe palagi Current distribution worldwide Solomon Islands (Kwara‘ae): fi‘i kako Clump-forming bamboos are native to tropical and Spanish: caña amarilla, caña verde subtropical areas of Asia, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin Tahitian: ‘ofe, ofe, ‘ohe America. Many species have been introduced to countries Tongan: kofe, pitu within Asia and Latin America, and to Africa, but less than Tuvaluan: kofe, pampu �00 species are grown on a commercial scale worldwide. Yapese: moor Clumping species brought into Fiji (Nadurulolo) in the See Table � for local common names of other indigenous �950s included Bambusa tuldoides, Dendrocalamus gigan- bamboos of the Pacific. teus, and Gigantochloa apus, but these species remain rare and localized. Species introduced into Fiji in recent times Brief botanical description (200�) in several locations (Pacific Harbour and Colo-I- Bamboos are woody grasses that range in height from 0.5 m Suva) include Bambusa lako, B. malingensis, B. oldhamii, B. to 40 m. The main structural component is the underground textilis, B. vulgaris cvs. Vittata and Wamin, Dendrocalamus rhizome system from which the above ground stems (called latiflorus, and Gigantochloa atter. Some of these same spe- “culms”) emerge. There are two major types of bamboos, cies and varieties have also been introduced into Kiribati, based on the type of rhizome they possess. Those with short Niue, Samoa, and Tonga. For a comprehensive compilation bulbous rhizomes that turn upwards to produce culms from of nomenclature and distribution see Ohrnberger (�999). their apical buds produce bamboos with culms growing Lists of species growing in and recommended for Pacific in closely-packed clumps are called “sympodial” bamboos. islands are given in Tables � and 2. Note that of the most Those with long rhizomes that grow horizontally through the useful genera, experience in the Pacificindicates that Gi- soil and produce culms from lateral buds in widely-spaced gantochloa spp. seems to be adaptable over a wider range groves are called “monopodial” bamboos. There are a few of environments than Dendrocalamus spp. (which gener- exceptions: invasive sympodial bamboos that form huge ally require more water) and can grow in soils of higher pH. groves and monopodial bamboos that form open clumps, Bambusa vulgaris may be regarded as naturalized throu��gh-h- and even a few bamboos with both types of rhizome. out the PacifiPacific c,,�� asas indicatedindicated byby thethe extensiveextensive listlist ofof itsits comcom-- Culms are woody but hollow, except at the nodes, which mon names presented above. are periodic ring-like thickenings all the way up the culm. The distance between nodes varies with species.

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