Moso Bamboo
Moso Bamboo
Grass
A giant grass whose new shoots can rocket up almost a metre in a single day — the fastest-growing plant on Earth.
💡 Fun Facts
- It is the fastest-growing plant on Earth — a new shoot can grow almost a metre in a single day!
- It is a giant grass, not a tree, even though it can reach the height of a house.
- A whole bamboo forest can flower all at once, then die together — but only about once every 60 to 120 years.
Name Story
Phyllostachys edulis
means “the edible leaf-spike”
What does its name mean?
- Phyllostachys — leaf-spikeGreek phyllon ‘leaf’ + stachys ‘spike, ear of corn’
- edulis — edibleLatin edere ‘to eat’Decode this word →
‘Edible’ points to the famous young bamboo shoots people cook and eat. ‘Leaf-spike’ describes the leafy, spike-shaped flower cluster — though bamboos flower so rarely, once in many decades, that the plant you’ll almost always meet is the tall green cane, not the spike.