Chapter Seventy-Five: Bamboo Blooms

  Thanks for the reward from brothers Zhenghe and Wuqing. Has everyone collected it? Don't forget to vote for Sanjiang! Thanks!

  Those little guys saw that there was no fun to be had, so they started picking up cicada shells on Bamboo Mountain. The place on Bamboo Mountain had been thoroughly bombed by the villagers last time, but now you could still see a lot of cicada shells. This thing is especially common in summer, often picked clean one day and reappearing the next.

  "Hey! Everyone come and see! That patch of bamboo has actually bloomed!" someone suddenly shouted in surprise.

  "Is the bamboo flowering?" Everyone put down their work and ran over immediately. The bamboo flowering had been heard of before, but almost no one had seen it, except for the elderly.

  Everyone looked back, and indeed, the bamboo forest collectively bloomed, presenting a magnificent scene. Chu Jiaqiang knew that the bamboo was introduced from the north by a predecessor and planted on a barren land in Zhushan that had been burned by fire. More than ten years have passed, and it has formed a bamboo forest with tens of thousands of stalks.

  Jingzhu is what locals call it. They actually don't know what kind of bamboo this is, but supposedly it was introduced from the capital, so they call it Jingzhu.

  This kind of bamboo is actually called Danzhu, also known as Powder Green Bamboo and Flower Spot Bamboo. Medium-sized bamboo, pole height reaches 10-16 meters, diameter 2-5 cm or larger. The tip of the stem is slightly curved, the middle section is 30-40 cm long, new stems are blue-green in color, densely covered with white powder; old stems are green or yellow-green, with white powder rings below the nodes. The node ring and sheath ring are slightly raised, the sheath is light reddish-brown or light green, with purple-brown spots, no auricles or hairs. The ligule is purple; the leaves are lanceolate, green.

  It has strong cold and drought resistance. It is commonly found in plains, low mountain slopes and river beaches. The bamboo pole is tough and grows vigorously. In the Yellow River Basin, it is relatively widespread, and there are also some in the south, but few, most of which were introduced from the north. Generally, mother bamboo is used for afforestation by transplanting, and spring or autumn transplantation is easier to survive. It has a strong sprouting rate and is easy to cultivate and manage.

  There are many uses for it, otherwise the elders would not have brought it back from afar. The bamboo forest has a elegant posture, slender and beautiful, with bamboo shoots as clean as jade. It is suitable for large-scale planting, and can also be made into small pieces. In my province's countryside, it is often planted in large areas next to homes for practical use; it can also prevent wind and greenify the environment. The stalks are slightly thin, but the quality of the bamboo is excellent, making it a top-grade agricultural and handicraft material. The stalks can be used as handles for farming tools, drying racks, smoking pipes, trellises, etc., and can also be woven into mats. The shoots are edible.

  The old village chief frowned: "How can it bloom so quickly! It's been less than twenty years since it was introduced back."

  In order to protect the growth of these bamboos, the old village chief would often prohibit villagers from digging up that patch of bamboo shoots. But unexpectedly, they began to bloom. The old village chief was well aware that once the bamboos bloomed, it meant they were nearing the end of their lives.

  "I heard that bamboo dies after it blooms, is that true?" a young man asked curiously.

  An older man next to him sighed: "The bamboo blooming is not a good omen, it's a disaster for our village!"

  "Pshaw! Old Stone, what kind of ominous words are you spouting?" Someone who was very familiar with the villager immediately interrupted, casting a sideways glance at the village elder to see his expression.

  Chu Jiaqiang smiled, because bamboo flowering is relatively rare, and after flowering, the green leaves wither, branches dry up, and die in batches. Therefore, some superstitious people mistakenly think that bamboo flowering is an "omen of bad luck", making people produce a sense of mystery and various doubts about this natural phenomenon.

  To be honest, this was also the first time that Chu Jiaqiang had seen bamboo flowers in bloom. The flowers were small and clustered together, with countless bees buzzing busily among them, a truly magnificent sight.

  Later, I also searched for relevant information online. Bamboo is one of the most primitive subfamilies in the Poaceae family and is also the most diversified group in the Poaceae family. It is distinguished from other plants in the same family by its woody culms, compound branches, well-developed root system, and rare flowering. Most bamboo species are evergreen, with some species shedding their leaves during the dry season.

  It can not only bloom but also bear fruit and produce bamboo rice.

  Due to the different species of bamboo, the flowering cycle is also different, which is also influenced by heredity. Some bamboos take tens or even decades to bloom, such as Moso bamboo and Banna sweet bamboo, which take about 30 years to bloom, while Phyllostachys nigra and Bashania fangiana take 32 years to bloom. Some species of Dendrocalamus take more than 80 years to bloom; some even take hundreds of years to bloom, such as the Gui bamboo, which takes 120 years to bloom. Of course, there are also exceptions, such as the Guadua angustifolia and the Otatea acuminata, which bloom once a year or so; while the Phyllostachys edulis and the Pleioblastus amarus have no regular flowering cycle.

  Why do bamboo plants wither and die after flowering? This is a long-standing puzzle that has puzzled people for a long time, and scientists also have different views on this. Some scientists believe that when bamboo grows to a certain age, it will inevitably decline and bloom before the end of its life in order to reproduce. They explained: The roots, stems, and leaves of plants are called vegetative organs, and their growth is called vegetative growth; the flowers, fruits, and seeds of plants are called reproductive organs, and their growth is called reproductive growth.

  "It shouldn't be! Some of the bamboo is still young and tender, how can it bloom and spread disease?" The old village chief really didn't understand.

  "The bamboo is reproduced from the bamboo, and that piece of bamboo is actually a split body of the original batch of bamboo. When the lifespan of the real body ends, even if the split body has just been created, it will also step into the forbidden zone of death."

  Chu Jiaqiang's explanation was very straightforward and easy to understand, unlike some experts who use complicated language, so everyone understood it immediately.

  In fact, bamboo flowering has been recorded in ancient Chinese books. The "Shan Hai Jing" writes: "Bamboo changes its roots every 60 years, and when it does, flowers will bloom, and when they do, seeds will be produced, and when they are, the plant will wither and die, but the seeds will sprout again." The "Jin Shu" also has a similar record: "In the second year of Yuan Kang in the Jin Dynasty, grass and bamboo both produced seeds like wheat. Two years later, in the spring, the bamboo in Bashan bloomed."

  Therefore, people in the country are not unacceptable to bamboo flowering, but only large-scale flowering death makes them superstitious and uneasy.

  "Alas! It seems we are not worthy of enjoying this bamboo from afar!" The old village chief sighed.

  "Hehe! This bamboo flowering is almost the same as getting chicken pox. I think it's better to cut down the bamboo these days, that patch of bamboo won't survive anyway, might as well cut them down early, wait till they wither and the bamboo poles will all be useless, now they can still be used." Chu Jiaqiang suggested.

  The old village chief could only nod helplessly, besides this, there was really no other way.

  Because the bamboo is too high, it's very troublesome to carry back, walking on a straight road is fine, but once you encounter a bigger turn, you can't turn around, so generally cut into three or four sections and tie them together.

  These old bamboos are quite heavy, with a whole root weighing almost 100 catties. Many people can only carry four or five sections and feel very strenuous. But Chu Jiaqiang bundled them into a big bundle, the quantity was directly twice that of others, which really shocked many guys who thought they were great strongmen.

  Strong young men carried back the cut bamboo and loudly boasted about the bamboo blooming, causing another wave of exclamations in the village.