Common name: Giant Bamboo

Giant Bamboo is a clumping bamboo cultivated for its woody stems and edible shoots.

Originating in Southeast Asia, it occurs naturally in parts of Thailand and Malaysia. Today, it is introduced and cultivated in other Southeast Asian regions and much farther afield, including Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and warm parts of China, Australia, and the United States.

A member of the grass family, Giant Bamboo is composed of underground rhizomes sprouting clumps of cane-like stems. The stems grow fast, adding 10 cm (4 in) or more in height per day and, when mature, are 20 to 30 m (65 to 100 ft) tall with a diameter of 8 to 20 cm (3 to 8 in).

Each clump has many stems at different stages of maturity, and mature stems form tall stands that sway and creak in the wind. Like other grasses, the stems are jointed but made of a rigid woody material. The surface is dark green and smooth between the joints, and the inside is hollow.

Flowering is rare or sporadic in most bamboos and only occurs once every few decades. As a result, very little is known about the flowering and seeding habit of Giant Bamboo except that when flowering does occur, the plant usually dies after seeding.

Material uses

More commonly known as culms, the mature woody stems are harvested whole or converted into various bamboo-wood products. Culms selected for processing into bamboo products are first separated into laths, splits, or sticks, or sliced into veneer, depending on the product.

Heavy construction - Large-diameter culms are used whole in construction, including scaffolding and structural beams,

Poles and posts - ...poles,

​Light construction - ...or are cut lengthwise to make splits and laths used to manufacture bamboo panels, screens, and finished lath boards. Lath boards are full-thickness bamboo splits shaped, planed, assembled and glued into boards.

Joinery and millwork- The boards are then cut and shaped into finished products such as doors and window frames.

Parquetry- As well as parquet flooring.

​Woven craft - The splits are usually long, thin, and flexible enough to weave into baskets and mats.

​Furniture and cabinets - Splits are also made into furniture or steam-bent into curved pieces.

Wood craft and wares - Sticks refer to cutting and shaping bamboo pieces, usually by machine, into items such as chopsticks and kitchen utensils.

​Decorative veneer - Veneers are thinly sliced, highly polished bamboo pieces that add a decorative surface to furniture, surfboards, skateboards, and other articles.

Cane craft - Small-diameter culms are made into cane furniture,

Musical instruments - ...as well as being crafted into musical instruments such as flutes and similar articles.

Charcoal - Bamboo wood is commonly converted into charcoal fuel, which burns hot and clean, making it an excellent substitute for wood charcoal in cooking and barbecuing. It is usually available as regular charcoal or briquettes and is made from culms grown for this purpose and from waste, including sawdust.

Activated charcoal, a finely porous, pure charcoal produced under controlled conditions, is made mainly from bamboo wood and coconut (Cocos nucifera) shells. Industry uses it for air, gas, and alcohol filtration, chemical and metal purification, and absorbing excess moisture. Additionally, both bamboo and coconut shell charcoal are highly valued as natural vase conditioners, using their exceptional filtration properties to trap water impurities and prevent bacterial growth, extending the life of cut flowers.​

Natural fibre - Bamboo wood also comprises long, absorbent fibres that substitute for other fibres in clothing,

Plant fibre pulp - ...as well as wood in paper pulp, producing paper with high tear strength, similar to paper made from hardwoods.

Natural packaging - These properties make it suitable for moulding the pulp into disposable, biodegradable items such as paper cups, plates, fast-food containers, and a range of other manufactured items currently using synthetic materials such as polystyrene.

Edible uses

Cooked vegetable - Giant Bamboo is one of only a few tropical bamboos cultivated for its edible shoots. Other warm climate bamboo species suitable for shoot cultivation include Sweet Bamboo (Dendrocalamus latiflorus) and Giant Timber Bamboo (Bambusa oldhamii). Although commonly canned, the shoots are also ideal for fresh consumption, but they have high cyanide concentrations and must be boiled in water for 15 to 20 minutes before eating. Giant Bamboo shoots have a crisp, apple-like texture and are slightly less bitter than other edible bamboo species, making them ideal for salads and other summer dishes.

Pickled vegetable - In Southeast Asia, bamboo shoots are also commonly dried and pickled to preserve and flavour them.

Environmental uses

Erosion control - Clumping bamboos are planted on steeply sloping hillsides and along river banks to prevent soil erosion, growing quickly and forming dense clumps to do this well.

Shade or privacy screen - Established bamboo clumps also provide shade and can serve as privacy screens.

Windbreak - As well as windbreaks.

Wastewater treatment - Activated charcoal, produced from bamboo wood, is also used industrially for sewage treatment.

Health uses

Natural digestive aid - Activated charcoal is also used in medicine to treat flatulence and indigestion, and has also traditionally been used to treat diarrhoea and as a treatment for drug overdose.

Natural dental care - More recently, it has been touted as a teeth-whitening agent.

Bamboo shoots

Climate

Giant Bamboo grows naturally in humid subtropical and tropical climates, generally areas with annual lows of 14 to 25°C, annual highs of 24 to 36°C, annual rainfall of 1200 to 6000 mm and a dry season of 5 months or less. It is most productive in tropical areas receiving 1400 mm or more in annual rainfall. Still, it is also successfully cultivated in drier areas with irrigation.

Growing

New plants can be started from cuttings, offsets (one- to two-year-old culms) or rhizome divisions. Still, tissue culture is quickly becoming the preferred propagation method and gives excellent results. Seed can also be used but is rarely available and can produce offspring with significant variation in characteristics.

Giant Bamboo performs best on organically rich, free-draining clay-loam, loam, sandy-loam and loamy-sand soils of a moderately acid to neutral nature, generally with a pH of 5.0 to 7.5 and on sites with full to partial sun exposure. It has poor tolerance to slow-draining, sticky soils or depleted shallow soils with little organic matter.

Shoots for eating are harvested from clumps that are at least three to four years old. Early- or over-harvesting can result in low productivity over the life of the plant. As a general rule, shoots are harvested soon after they emerge and when their height is about three times the width at the base. 

Average yields for unmanaged mature culms are estimated at 1,000 to 2,000 kgs per hectare (892 to 1,784 pounds per acre) per year but can be up to ten or twenty times that in intensive cultivation systems. Yields of fresh Giant Bamboo shoots grown in Australia average around 9,000 kgs per hectare per year, the equivalent of 8,030 pounds per acre.

Giant Bamboo characteristics and uses vary across varieties and cultivars. Well-known varieties include 'Phai Tong Keo', a cultivar from Thailand commonly cultivated for its edible shoots, and 'Betung Hitam' (aka 'Black Asper '), a black-stemmed cultivar from Indonesia that also produces edible shoots.

Problem features

The shoots contain high levels of cyanogen, a poisonous cyanide-producing compound that must be removed by cooking before eating. High levels of cyanogens are also present in the tubers of Cassava (Manihot esculenta).

Despite its widespread cultivation, there appear to be no records of escape and naturalisation anywhere. The Hawaii Pacific Weed Risk Assessment (HPWRA) project assesses it as a low weed-risk species for Hawaii.

Books

• Byrne, T. & Bourke, M. & Salvin, S. 2004, The new crop industries handbook, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), Canberra, Australia

• Elevitch, C. R. & Thaman, R. R. 2011, Specialty crops for Pacific islands, 1st ed, Permanent Agriculture Resources, Hawaii

• Hu, S. 2005, Food plants of China, Chinese University Press, Hong Kong

• Jensen, M. 1999, Trees commonly cultivated in Southeast Asia : an illustrated field guide, 2nd ed., Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP), Bangkok

• Lobovikov, M. 2007, World bamboo resources : a thematic study prepared in the framework of the Global Forest Resources Assessment 2005. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Rome

• Luna, R. K 1996, Plantation trees, International Book Distributors, Dehradun, Uttarakhand

• Mollison, B. 1993, The permaculture book of ferment and human nutrition, Tagari Publications, Tyalgum, New South Wales

• Norrington, L. & Campbell, C. 2001, Tropical food gardens : a guide to growing fruit, herbs and vegetables in tropical and sub-tropical climates, Bloomings Books, Hawthorn, Victoria

• Randall, R. P. 2002, A global compendium of weeds, R.G. and F.J. Richardson Press, Melbourne

• Randall, R. P. 2007, The introduced flora of Australia and its weed status, Cooperative Research Centre for Australian Weed Management, Glen Osmond, South Australia

• Roecklein, J. C & Leung, P.S. 1987, A Profile of economic plants, Transaction Books, New Brunswick, New Jersey

• Rubatzky, V. E. & Yamaguchi, M. 1997, World vegetables : principles, production, and nutritive values, 2nd ed., Chapman & Hall, New York

• Toensmeier, E. 2007, Perennial Vegetables : From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro, A Gardener's Guide to Over 100 Delicious and Easy to Grow Edibles, White River Junction, Chelsea Green Publishing, Vermont

• Van Wyk, B. E. 2005, Food plants of the world: an illustrated guide, 1st ed., Timber Press, Portland, Oregon