For the Chinese, the bamboo is a symbol for longevity — and how can it not be? At a record of 130+ feet of growth, the bamboo is known as the fastest growing plant on Earth. Some species even grow up to 3 inches over a 24 hour period. Imagine spending a day just watching a bamboo plant grow — though there are conditions for this kind of growth.

It’s 99% of a Giant Panda’s diet. One of Thomas Edison’s first commercially successful incandescent lamps used a filament of carbonized bamboo. Alexander Graham Bell made the first phonograph needle out of bamboo!

There are also several benefits to growing your own bamboo plant. Here are a few:

Bamboo releases 35% more oxygen than trees. Wait, isn’t the bamboo a plant? How come? Because the bamboo is made up of more parts water than normal trees, it naturally releases more oxygen.

Over one billion people in the world live in bamboo houses. Surprising, huh? Because of the bamboo’s flexibility, combined with its flexibility, it can be used as a material for building several useful objects. In places where building materials would cost much, bamboo, as a plant, is used as a substitute for building everything from garden décor, souvenirs, fences, bridges, canoes — to even chopsticks!

Bamboo is edible! Aside from using it as a building material, some parts of the bamboo, you could actually eat! The bamboo shoots are used in several Asian dishes and is available in supermarkets in canned form.

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