Guadua
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''Guadua'' is a
Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...
of thorny, clumping
bamboo Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, ...
in the grass family, ranging from moderate to very large species. Physically, ''
Guadua angustifolia ''Guadua angustifolia'' also known as the Colombian timber bamboo and Colombian giant thorny, is a species of clumping bamboo found from Central to South America. References External links

* * Guadua, angustifolia Taxa named by Carl S ...
'' is noted for being the largest
Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...
bamboo. The genus is similar to ''
Bambusa ''Bambusa'' is a large genus of clumping bamboos. Most species of ''Bambusa'' are rather large, with numerous branches emerging from the nodes, and one or two much larger than the rest. The branches can be as long as 11 m (35 ft). The ...
'' and is sometimes included in that genus. Several animals are, to a various extent, associated with stands of ''Guadua'' bamboo, for example several species of seedeaters, and the
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
and Atlantic Bamboo Rats.


Distribution and habitats

The genus can be found in a wide range from northern
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
to
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, but most of the species are concentrated in the Amazon basin and the Orinoco basin. They usually grow at low altitudes (below 1,500 m), but has been found up to 2,500 m. Its
habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
s include lowland tropical and lower-montane forest,
savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland- grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
s,
Cerrado The ''Cerrado'' (, ) is a vast ecoregion of tropical savanna in eastern Brazil, particularly in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mato Grosso, Tocantins, Minas Gerais, and the Federal District. The core areas of the Cerrado biome are the ...
s, gallery forest, and disturbed inter-Andean valley vegetation.


Human use

From a utilitarian perspective, ''Guadua'' is the most important American bamboo. Due to its quality, the genus has been widely used for house construction along the inter-Andean rivers of Colombia and in coastal
Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
. ''Guadua angustifolia'',
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to Tropical America, is slowly becoming well known once again as a building material. Highly appreciated by
Simon Bolivar Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genu ...
for its watershed protection and praised by
Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, ...
for its wide variety of uses, it is being used in construction today in South America. Technical studies of bamboo's mechanical properties ("vegetable steel") have increased interest in its use. Although bamboo culms used for building can be harvested in natural forests,
over-exploitation Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term ap ...
leads to the depletion of natural resources. For large-scale use of ''Guadua angustifolia'', the management of sustainable bamboo forests and groves, as well as the establishment of new nurseries and plantations, is a priority. Tropical bamboo can be propagated with cuttings or by covering complete culms with soil. The next year, new plants will sprout. Or, ''Guadua'' can be propagated more rapidly by the ''chusquin'' method. Under this method, culms are cut at ground level when harvesting causing many small shoots and new plants to grow around the original plant. This method is suitable for large-scale forests or farm cooperatives. Since bamboo is a grass, harvesting it down to the soil induces more new shoots to emerge, just like
turf grass A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. L ...
. This is a phenomenon not known in
tropical hardwood forests The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...
. Even more rapid methods have been recently developed through the use of tissue culture. Bamboo propagated in a laboratory in the space of one square meter will be sufficient to establish one hectare of new forest. These plants can also be readily transported in a one-half-cubic-meter box. Harvesting can begin six years after planting, making bamboo a potential source of tropical biomass production for industry (e.g., biofuels). For architectural purposes, ''Guadua'' is the preferred bamboo species. Its diameter is constant for the first 15 meters and then tapers at the top. These features have attracted the attention of
civil engineers This list of civil engineers is a list of notable people who have been trained in or have practiced civil engineering. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U ...
,
architects An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
,
academics An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...
, designers, and artists. Environmentally, ''Guadua'' is more effective at removing
carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...
from the atmosphere than most other tropical forest; ongoing studies in Colombia have now been coordinated by the Environmental Bamboo Foundation. On the basis of such studies, Japan and the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
have both undertaken massive forestation projects as a way of earning so-called "carbon credits" to offset industrial pollution. Recent studies conducted by the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
indicate that bamboo has relatively low water requirements and that its
root system In mathematics, a root system is a configuration of vectors in a Euclidean space satisfying certain geometrical properties. The concept is fundamental in the theory of Lie groups and Lie algebras, especially the classification and representatio ...
is an excellent watershed protector. Depending on
humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity dep ...
, ''Guadua'' contains 15% more
BTU The British thermal unit (BTU or Btu) is a unit of heat; it is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. It is also part of the United States customary units. The modern SI u ...
s than other fuelwoods and could therefore serve as an alternative fuel for energy. German Fire Authorities tested ''Guadua'' and, guided by the European Building Code, approved bamboo as a building material for the Guadua Pavilion at
Expo 2000 Expo 2000 was a World Expo held in Hanover, Germany from 1 June to 31 October 2000. It was located on the Hanover Fairground (Messegelände Hannover), which is the largest exhibition ground in the world. Initially some 40 million people were expe ...
in
Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
. A preservation technique, involving the use of non-toxic smoke can prevent bamboo's deterioration for several decades. Bamboo construction is also earthquake-resistant. Recent earthquakes in Colombia's coffee zone demonstrated this when many houses built in the 1930s survived, while modern houses collapsed. Costa Rica reported similar experiences in earlier earthquakes there.


Species

;Accepted speciesKew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>Morales, J. F. 2003. Poaceae. 93(3): 598–821. In B. E. Hammel, M. H. Grayum, C. Herrera & N. Zamora Villalobos (eds.) Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis. ;Formerly included see '' Arthrostylidium
Aulonemia ''Aulonemia'' is a genus of Latin American bamboo in the grass family. ;Species ;Formerly included see ''Colanthelia Olmeca'' * ''Aulonemia cingulata - Colanthelia cingulata'' * ''Aulonemia clarkiae - Olmeca clarkiae'' * ''Aulonemia fulgor ...
Bambusa ''Bambusa'' is a large genus of clumping bamboos. Most species of ''Bambusa'' are rather large, with numerous branches emerging from the nodes, and one or two much larger than the rest. The branches can be as long as 11 m (35 ft). The ...
Chusquea
Eremocaulon ''Eremocaulon'' is a genus of Brazilian bamboo in the grass family. ;SpeciesLondoño, X. & L. G. Clark. 2002. A revision of the Brazilian bamboo genus ''Eremocaulon'' (Poaceae: Bambuseae: Guaduinae). Systematic Botany 27(4): 703–721. # ''Erem ...
Sphaerobambos ''Sphaerobambos'' is a genus of Southeast Asian bamboo, in the grass family. ;Species # '' Sphaerobambos hirsuta'' S.Dransf. - Sabah # '' Sphaerobambos philippinensis'' (Gamble) S.Dransf. - Mindanao # '' Sphaerobambos subtilis'' S.Dransf. - ...
''


Gallery

Image:Guadua furniture 2005-06-16.jpg, Handcrafted Guadua furniture is typical of the
Paisa region A Paisa is someone from a region in the northwest of Colombia, including part of the West and Central ''cordilleras'' of the Andes in Colombia. The Paisa region is formed by the departments of Antioquia, Caldas, Risaralda and Quindío. S ...
Image:Guadua angustifolia (11274473695).jpg, Guadua angustifolia on a plantation in Colombia


References


External links


International Network for Bamboo and RattanFundeguadua

Torre Mirador (Sightseeing Tower)
Tower made of Guadua, Coffee National Park, Colombia. {{Taxonbar, from=Q141013 Bambusoideae genera Taxa named by Carl Sigismund Kunth