What is the fastest growing plant in the world?

It, Linchi, like jade, rushing to change the festival, and the heart of Zhen.

It is chic among all things, repairing the unique group, and Zhenzi has taken snow, and the high nodes are lingering.

It, outside Tsinghua, is among them, elegant and refined, and does not make a charming state.

It is a well -known, "gentleman" in countless literati, bamboo.

Don't think you know bamboo very much, how small it is, for example, you think it and tree are close relatives, in fact, it is the family with rice; for example, you think it is slowly growing, in fact, he can be overnight. It is judged between two, so today we will take a look at how many secrets it has.

Summer bamboo forest/Source: Xia Wen shooting

The fastest growing plant in the world

Bamboo was tall and tall and upright, and the show was clear. People always thought that it was a "one tree" -the wooden plant, but it was just a burly "one grass". Rice is its real " Loved ones.

Seeing this, whether you believe it or not, the rice can not recognize it. Bamboo is the root of the roots of Miao Hong. It's just that this child is indeed a little faster, standing with wheat and rice in the "family", it is really like an outsider.

How fast is bamboo? It is a veritable "thousands of miles" in the plant world -one of the fastest growing plants in the world. "Zhu Lihe Qun". It seems that the excellent and the group are like fish and bear's paw.

Only one time for a lifetime

People are yearning for all flowers, and the spring is full of spring, and the expectations of beautiful and happy life in their hearts and noble qualities will be used to express flowers with flowers. They are to be released, breeding new hope; they are blooming, representing the inheritance of life and a future full of hope.

Throughout the ages, we have given the plum blossoms to be tough and unyielding, showing the decentness and fortune of orchids, Gao Jieguyou's style, and praising the chrysanthemums that are not afraid of strict frost and lonely quality. Its flowers have the tragedy and strong beauty of death.

The picture is: plum blossoms, orchids, chrysanthemum sources: China Nature Specification Museum

Bamboo does not bloom easily. They only bloom once in their lives, which also means the end of life. Each flower of the bamboo flowers has 1 piece and one piece of outer pupae, and the scales are quilts or no scales, 3, 6, or more. Composition of flower columns, 1 sub -room, 1 ~ 3 flowers. The small flowers are arranged in two columns, which are born on a short and thin flower axis. More than 1 to more than a small flower plus Ying tablets to form a small ears, and then the inflorescence is formed by many ears.

The picture is the flower of bamboo: Museum

How long can bamboo live still a mystery? Most bamboo can grow for more than 60 years. Interestingly, most bamboo seems to be secretly whispering, regardless of its distribution far and near, the same kind of bamboo will bloom at the same time. This is because this piece of bamboo "was originally the same source of the same stems." They were associated with the underground stems (bamboo whip), so a piece of bamboo forest on the mountain blooms at the same time. So when you see the bamboo forest, you may be "a family"!

Image source: Bamboobotanicals.ca

Such a sudden large-scale "flowering incident" caught humans and giant pandas. Because the bamboo flowers naturally updated after the flowering and death of bamboo, it takes 8-10 years to eat, and our giant panda eats some bamboo. Death will make the giant panda hungry. For example, it was reported in the 1980s that the large area of ​​arrow bamboo blossoms caused more than 200 wild giant pandas to make a "famine".

Why did the bamboo die after blooming?

As early as 2000 years ago, the "Shan Hai Jing" was a record of the strange phenomenon of death after the blooming of bamboo. Therefore, the large area of ​​bamboo is also a hot topic for research.

Picture source: nxy1615

Humans and pandas are very interested in blooming the subject of bamboo, but they did not find the answer. Scientists have put forward a lot of hypothesis, which are mainly concentrated in the cause of flowering, flowering physiological mechanisms, and flowering molecular biology.

Bamboo flowers have always existed with two explanations: internal and external causes.

Internalism believes that bamboo flowers are regulated by unique biological clocks. Bamboo flowering has a certain periodicity, and the cycle depends on its internal development rhythm. It will bloom after growing to the age of physiological maturity.

For example, it is said that in the "Bamboo Spectrum", there is a record of "bamboo sixty years is also easy to roots, and the roots are strong and dead". It highlights the time cycle of 60 years, and the reason for flowering is "Easy Gen". The Baiya chicken bamboo flowering cycle recorded by American scholars is about 43 years.

The picture is the flower branch of Maozhu: Chinese plant image library

The picture is the stems and branches of bamboo: Chinese plant image library

External factors mainly believe that bamboo flowering is the result of the induction and influence of external harsh environment, especially drought, high temperature and waterlogging.

American scholar Campbell had studied the flowering specimens and literature of Chinese Himalayas, and finally found that drought was one of the murderers who killed the bamboo. Researcher Hu Yi and other researchers pointed their finger at the abnormal climate of warm winter and cool summer in the "Blue Blossom Incident".

With the advancement of scientific research, scientists have also proposed some other doctrine other than "internal and external theory", namely "cyclical aging and recovery doctrine" and "nutritional hypothesis". Image source: Guadua Bamboo

The theory of cyclical aging and recovery, the former Soviet scholar Cranger believes that the living power of bamboo gradually decreases with the growth, and the aging process of their gradual transition from nutrient growth to reproductive growth is not continuous, and often the opposite process of "recovery" is often "recovered". The interrupted, that is to say, when the bamboo becomes the old grandfather, it may return to "20 years old". When it aging, it may be youth again, so the aging and reunification of bamboo are periodic.

Nutritional hypothesis says that researchers believe that bamboo leads to flowering under the condition of lack of nutrition. When the nutrients required during growth are insufficient, they often flow and bear fruit and change to reproductive growth.

Image source: veer gallery

Don't worry about Panda Jun

The most worried about the death of bamboo is the giant panda. After all, the "full rice" is the greatest happiness of Xiong Sheng. Is there any way to solve this problem? In order to make bamboo longevity, scientists can only adopt artificial ways to make flowers that have blossomed no longer expand the scope of flowering and death, so that they can re -grow nutrition and rejuvenate the vitality of youth.

At present, some effective methods include: provide sufficient nutritional conditions for bamboo, and timely plowing soil. When discovering the blooming bamboo, it is timely cut off to avoid affecting the nutrition growth of other bamboo. Pesticide and so on.

After the prevention and control of these measures, the problem of bamboo flowering was effectively controlled, and the "health status" of bamboo has also been significantly improved. Seeing the youth's eternal bamboo, we can finally touch the panda's fluffy head and say: "Don't worry, Panda Jun."

references:

1. Geng Bojie, Wang Zhengping. Chinese Botanicals: Volume 9, Study [M]. Beijing: Science Press, 1996.

2. Li Yumin, Feng Pengfei. Analysis of Chinese bamboo resource analysis based on the ninth national forest resource inspection. World Bamboo and Team Communication, 2019, 17 (6): 45-48.

3. Chai Zhenlin, Qin Yuchuan, Huaxiqi, et al. Research on the cause of bamboo flowering [J]. Zhejiang Forestry Technology, 2006, 26 (2): 53-57.

4. Hu Yi, the study of the weather conditions of the Weifang, Zhu Keyun, waiting for the growth and flowering of arrow bamboo ［j]. Journal of Chengdu Meteorological College, 1997, 12 (3): 225-233

5. Wang Xiaohong. Environmental factors affect the research on bamboo flowering ［J]. Sichuan animals, 2009, 28 (4): 618-621.

6. Li Zhaohua, Zhao Liya, Lu Jindeng. "Yigen": The ecological interpretation of the blooming of the bamboo groups [J]. World Bamboo Team Communication, 2004, 2 (4): 21-23

7. Janzen d H. Why Bamboos Wait So Long to Flower [J]. Annual REVIEW of ECOLOGY and Systems, 1976, 7: 347-391.

8. Sharma M L. The Flowering of Bamboo: Fallacies and Facts [C] / / Proceedings of the Bamboo in Asia and the Pacific. ThaiLand: chiangmai, 1994: 68-70.

9. Nadgauda R S, Parasharami v A, Mascarenhas A f. Precocious Flowering and Seeding Behavior in Tissue Cultured Bamboos ［J]. Nature, 1990, 344 (22): 335-336.

10. Chambers s m, Heuch J H r, Pirrle A. Pirrle A. Micropropagation and in Vitro Flowering of the Bamboo DENDROCALAMUS HAMILTONII Munro [J]. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture, 1991, 27 (1): 45-48.

11. Journal of Bamboo RESEARCH, 1987, 6 (1): 1-15.

Produced: Popular Science China

Author: Li Xiaopei (Chinese Academy of Forestry Sciences) Li Tong (Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Producer: China Science Popularization Expo

Audit expert: Tong Yihua (South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Edit: Wang Tingting

The China Science Popularization Expo is the Science Popular Science Platform of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is sponsored by the Computer Network Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Relying on the high -end scientific resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it is committed to spreading cutting -edge scientific knowledge and providing fun science and education services.

- END -