The Bamboo Forests

Did you know that bamboos are giant grasses? Just like rice, wheat, and corn, they belong to the fascinating botanical family Poaceae, which includes some of the most important plants on the planet.

Bamboos occur naturally between latitudes 46° N and 47° S, from sea level to over 4,000 m in altitude. They grow mainly in forests and highland fields around the world, except in Europe and Antarctica.

There are more than 1,700 species of bamboo, grouped into about 140 genera. This represents roughly 14% of the global diversity of grasses.

The smallest known bamboo, Raddiella minima, grows only 1–6 cm tall with leaves just 2–6 mm long. It forms tiny clumps beneath the grassy vegetation of Amazonian campinaranas. Other bamboos, however, reach tens of meters and can form vast single-species forests.

Most of the world’s bamboo forests are in Asia (62%), followed by the Americas (34%), and, to a lesser extent, Africa and Oceania (4%).

China is the world’s largest producer of bamboo, with over 150 million tons per year and 6.4 million hectares covered by these plants.

Bamboos are deeply rooted in Chinese culture and history. Cultivated for over 5,000 years, their shoots are prized in cuisine, while their culms are used in utensils, construction, crafts, and landscaping.

In Colombia, bamboos are widely used in construction, crafts, and many other applications. Among the native species, Guadua angustifolia stands out: resistant and flexible, easy to manage, and fast-growing.

In the Amazon, an estimated 60 to 70 bamboo species occur, both woody and herbaceous. Among the woody types, the genus Guadua stands out, with species regionally known as 'tabocas'.

In the southwestern Amazon lies the largest natural bamboo forest on Earth. Stretching mainly across the state of Acre into Bolivia and Peru, it covers about 180,000 km².

This spectacular forest formation is represented mainly by species of Guadua. In Acre alone, bamboo forests are estimated to cover 4.5 million hectares.

It occurs in the Western Amazon, especially in Acre, forming large populations. It flowers every 28 to 30 years and produces a great number of fleshy fruits (rare in Poaceae), eaten by many animals that help disperse its seeds.

For more than 120 years, this name was used for the 'giant taboca of Acre.' Today it is known that Guadua superba is a different species, reaching up to 18 m tall. The true 'giant taboca,' over 30 m high, still awaits an official scientific name.

It forms extensive populations on the northern Amazonian coast, in Pará and Amapá. Little studied and used, it has potential for many applications and plays an important role in the balance of mangroves where it often occurs.

Amazonian tabocas have great socio-economic and ecological potential, but they are still little studied and underused in Brazil, especially in Acre, which holds the largest areas of forests of these remarkable plants.