BAMBOO

Magazine of the American Bamboo Society October 2012 Vol. 33 Issue 5 $3.00 US

President's MessageHelp Stop Bamboo BansBy James Clever, President of ABS

Please help in the cause to overturn these bamboo bans. And please help to spread the cor-rect information about bamboo. In a past ABS magazine our "ABS State-ment" was published. A new version with a few changes is now available on the ABS website. Include this statement when you send out this introductory let-ter below. Add your own personal letter. The more of the membership that con-tributes, the more voices spoken, the better chance we all have in getting someone's attention. Those who will be hurt in their wallets will be those who sell bamboo. All of us in this society will be hurt if this continues.

Open Letter to Politicians wanting to Regulate the Planting of Bamboo: Because of the immense time and no doubt many thousands of dollars being spent on the quest to ban bamboo in the state of New York and a few municipalities in Connecticut, as President of the American Bamboo Society (ABS) I feel it is my duty to speak up.

The ABS, as the primary source of authoritative information on bamboo in the U.S., has not been contacted officially by any legislators or attorneys to seek clarification of the behavior and control requirements of the various types of bamboo. From what I have been able to glean from internet blogs and news sources, a group of misinformed and misguided individu-als are pushing this agenda for their own purposes.

Since bamboo plants themselves are not the problem, enacting legislation to prevent its use and enjoyment by citizens is a waste of time and money and a curtailment of individual rights. The fundamental problem is that it is humans that do not properly maintain their bam-boo. This is comparable to a dog owner allowing his dog to defecate on a neighbor's property, or to the owner of a tree that falls on the neighbor's fence or house. Do we ban dogs and trees? The obvious solution is to cite the property owners and hold them responsible for the containment of the bamboo, control of the dog, or the health of the tree.

The owner of a running bamboo should remove the parts of the plant which cross into the neighbor's property, or pay to have it done correctly and then perform regular yearly rhizome pruning to keep it in bounds. It amounts to much less care then well-cared-for lawns require.

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In This IssuePresident’s Message: Help Stop Bamboo Bans 1Problems importing bamboo poles from China 3From Shoots to Stands: Bamboo at the Smithsonian Zoo 5History and folklore in Bali 9Medicinal uses of Bansalochan (Tabasheer) 11Handicraft exhibit in India 12World Bamboo 2015 Announcement! 13Hurricane Isaac: One account by a bambusero 14

The hysteria expressed by some about bamboo taking over huge areas overnight is not sup-ported by the facts. If once-a-year care is done, bamboo will not be a problem.

The claims that bamboo is not native has clear signs of elitism. We are a nation that is a melting pot, with respect to humans, their differing cultures and in the plants that we grow.

Here is a list of a few non-natives from among hundreds grown in New York State and Con-necticut:

Apples - Western AsiaGrapes - Wine grapes: Near EastCabbage - MediterraneanSweet corn - MexicoOnions - Central AsiaTart cherries - Caspian and Black SeasStrawberries - Brittany, France (cross in 1750s Fragaria virginiana X Fragaria chiloensis)Snap beans - Central AmericaSquash - MesoamericaCucumbers – IndiaGreen peas - Mediterranean and Near EastCauliflower - Arabia

On the other hand, there are three species of bamboo which are native to the United States.

Bamboo is the most useful plant in the world. Bamboo can be made into paper, bio-fuel, kitchen wares, wood panels for all types of building including flooring and furniture, and many other things. The shoots are edible and the leaves and branches can be fed to livestock. Living bamboo generates oxygen, is one of the plants with the highest amount of carbon (CO2) sequestration in the world . On top of all this it is now being used to filter waste-water and makes a beautiful visual screen that is home to birds. It is both sustainable and highly useful. So should we ban grapes? Or bamboo? Or any of the other non-native plants on this list? The answer is no. These are all cash crops grown in the United States by many farmers and growers. Those people pay taxes and vote, and will be harmed by these misguided ordi-nances. Lack of citizen responsibility is what is the problem here. Now is the time for everyone to

do the right thing.

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On the Covers: Front: 180-year-old Lepcha hat; see p. 12 Photo courtesy of Punya P. Poudyal

Back: early autumn leaf and culm sheath litter under Bambusa oldhami.

BAMBOO Magazine of the American Bamboo Society

c. 2012 American Bamboo SocietyISSN 1554-8295

Published 6 times/yearDon Shor, editor

Betty Shor, co-editoremail: magazine@bamboo.org

Problems Importing Bamboo Poles from ChinaBy Suzanne MaisonBamboo & Rattan Works Inc470 Oberlin Ave. S.Lakewood, NJ 08701Phone 732-370-0220Fax 732-905-8386www.bambooandrattan.comThe folllowing is an e-mail received by several helpful members of ABS on August 10, 2012. Note: Bamboo and Rattan Works was established in 1880. I thought I would let you know about our recent shipment of bamboo poles from China. Perhaps the knowledge gained will help for future problems. Our container arrived on July 22. It was grabbed on July 25 for examination. Not uncommon. What was uncommon was that we were given 24 hrs. to either re-export the container back to China or have the contents destroyed. You can imagine the panic and disbelief. It turns out that the Dept. of Agriculture does not have direct presence on the piers since 9/11. There are "gun toting security persons" who now do the initial exams. This person, who is totally unknowledgeable, made the call. The first determination was that the bamboo could be propagated, per Agriculture rules, because there was a bit of green on the poles. With your expert help, we thought we debunked that determi-nation. Then they decided that the bamboo was not properly prepared and therefore could possibly have bugs. The container was fumigated in China. I know we all have our doubts about Chinese fu-migation, but we have dealt with this same supplier for over 20 years. We have passed 2 Dept. of Agriculture inspections. It did not make sense. Our supplier always sends pictures of our goods prior to loading the container. The pictures looked fine. We really had no reason to doubt our supplier/friend. She supplied us with very impor-tant information in regards to the preparation. The factory did what they were supposed to do. The same as always. After that they went back to "we saw the nodes growing." That was preposterous! The only thing we could think of was possibly a disgruntled person in China threw some plants in at the last minute. That was not the case. We also learned, after 132 years in business, that you need an import license to bring in cured dried bamboo. We just had a container arrive in July with no problem. Not to mention all the other con-tainers for years. I believe that the license became effective in 2006 or before! No one ever advised us that we needed a permit. We were granted an unheard-of 3-year license. Thanks to one "friend" in Aphis. For 1-1/2 weeks we fought. Thank you, Susanne Lucas, Cliff Sussman, and Dave Flanagan of the American Bamboo Society and Ran Lichtner, for sending us in the right direction and giving your expert opinions, which helped greatly. I don't want to mention names, but we landed with the right person in Aphis who was instrumental in getting our container released. I will thank him per-sonally in person in Maryland.

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A special thanks also for the help of the women in Congressman Chris Smith's office in Whiting. They contacted the Dept. of Agriculture in D.C. and advised that they would directly investigate. They did. The original release included the stipulation that the container be re-fumigated, which we did not protest. We agreed, better to be safe than sorry. Hours after that the Port Director contacted me to say the fumigation stipulation was dropped. I don't know for sure but I believe the change was due to the Congressman's inquiry. Although the Port Director had concerns about that. He rec-ommended that we still have the fumigation. We agreed. Hooray!!! We can now sleep. At this point we have no idea how much this will cost us. I am sure our profit and then some is out the window. I have a bad feeling this will add up to thousands of dol-lars. Our dollars. We are allowed "5 free days" once the container arrives. After the 5 days we start paying demurrage. Kind of like rent at the cost of approx. $150.00 per day. Right now it looks like $2,100 just for that. We also pay for the examinations(?) at approx. $800 each, the trucking to take it from the pier to a "secure warehouse," secure warehousing, trucking to the fumigation company and re-fumigation charges. We pay all of this as extra unexpected charges with no recourse as you cannot sue the government. In the end the container is released and we agreed to the re-fumigation to keep everyone happy. Hopefully lessons learned and a lot of money out the window, needlessly. This certainly is the nightmarish week and a half that we will never forget. So, if you feel you are being treated unfairly, protest and fight back. Ask for help from friends. Our broker is the BEST! She fought hard and long. If you need a great broker I'll pass her name along to you. There truly are good people who will help you. If I can help anyone anytime, please feel free to let me know. I will go to bat for you, promise! THANK YOU!!!P.S. After the problem was resolved, Suzanne Mai-son noted that a shipment from Taiwan received without a problem in July had been identified in la-beling as "Bamboo Ware." The shipment in August from PRC China had been labeled simply "Bam-boo." It may be that the difference in labeling could have led to the problem.

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From Shoots to StandsBamboo serves diverse purposes at the Zoo and around the world.by Susan Lumpkin

From Smithsonian Zoogoer magazine

Mar-Apr 2009

No bouncing baby anymore, three-year-old giant panda Tai Shan is now tipping the scales at a near-adult weight of about 185 pounds. With this comes a grown-up panda’s hearty appetite for bamboo, which is essentially all any giant panda eats. This presents a giant-sized challenge for the Smith-sonian National Zoo’s staff who must keep up with the demand for ever more of the stuff.

In fact, the Zoo’s head of nutri-tion, Mike Maslanka, says har-vesting bamboo is arguably the hardest job at the Zoo. If you have ever taken a whack at con-trolling bamboo in your own backyard, this may come as no surprise. The woody stems, or culms, don’t yield easily to clippers.

Maslanka and his team are responsible for cutting all the bamboo that keepers feed to the Zoo’s three giant pandas—as many as 400 tough stalks per day in the winter when giant pandas and other animals chow down most ravenously. In addition to serving the giant pandas 100 to 300 pieces of bamboo—up to nearly 90 pounds’ worth per day—nutrition staff cater to red pandas. These bamboo-eaters each need a stalk a day. The Zoo’s Asian elephants and great apes, for which bamboo is primarily an enriching supplement to their diet, each account for another 60 or so stalks.

Most of the bamboo harvested for the animals is of two types: species of Phyllostachys, especially yellow groove bamboo (P. aureosulcata), and arrow bamboo (Pseudosasa japonica).

These and other bamboos grow abundantly on Zoo grounds. According to Zoo horticulturalist Pre-ston Burke, nearly five of the Zoo’s 163 acres are planted with one species or another of the hardy, fast-growing grasses. Even so, there’s not enough to meet the demanding appetites of three giant pandas. Green year round, bamboo beautifies the park’s grounds. For this reason, bamboo is har-vested from the Zoo’s gardens only in emergencies and for a few days in the spring to thin out dense

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The Zoo's giant pandas, elephants, red pandas, and other animals munch through hundreds of bamboo stalks each day. (Ann Batdorf/NZP)

stands. Instead, staff trek out to the Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia, to a private property in Fort Washington, Maryland, and a few other local sites to cut their quota.

In all, the Zoo’s bamboo collection includes about 42 dif-ferent varieties, from the diminutive dwarf bamboo (Pleioblastus pumilus), which forms a ground cover, to towering timber bamboos such as some Phyllostachys species. But the Zoo hosts only a small sample of the myriad bamboo species—fascinating plants that underpin many natural habitats.

Bamboo Diversity

Around the world, there are some nine or ten thousand species of grasses, of which as many as 15 percent are bamboos. Estimates of the number of bamboo species vary, but recent figures range from 1,200 to 1,500, with

most of this num-ber belonging to the woody bam-boos. Only about 100 or so species don’t have woody stems, most of them confined to the Americas, including the smallest known bamboo. Standing less than an inch tall, Raddi-ella vanessiae was just discovered in French Guiana in 2007. In contrast, the tallest woody bamboos, such as the Asian Dendro-calamus giganteus, may exceed 120 feet. Woody bamboos in the widespread South American genus Guadua grow to nearly 100 feet.

Most people associate bamboo with Asia. Indeed, China is home to the greatest number and diversity of bamboos, with 626 described species. India boasts 102 species, followed by Japan with 84. In contrast, only five species of woody bamboo grow in Africa. About 33 grow in Madagascar, and all but one

of these is found only on that biologically unique island. In the New World, there are about 430 spe-cies of woody bamboos, with the greatest number—more than 130—in Brazil.

Although the bamboos that grow in North American gardens, like those at the Zoo, are almost en-tirely species introduced from China and Japan, there are a few native North American bamboos. One, called giant cane (Arundinaria gigantea), grows at the Zoo near the Reptile Discovery Center. Giant cane, which may reach 23 feet tall, was once very common in the southeastern United States.

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One of our Asian elephants enjoys bamboo at the Zoo. (Jessie Cohen/NZP)

Bamboo is important to humans and wildlife. (Jessie Cohen/NZP)

There, it grew in huge expanses of dense stands, called canebrakes, as large as four miles long and a quarter-mile wide. Canebrakes offer shelter and food to a host of animals, from black bears and turkeys to rattlesnakes and butterflies, but they have vastly diminished in extent. Early European settlers to the United States fed livestock on the cane and sheltered their animals in the brakes, but they replaced most of the stands with crop fields. The presence of cane indicated that the soil be-neath was fertile, and cane was easier to chop down than trees. Scientists speculate that the loss of canebrakes may have contributed to the decline (and probable extinction) of Bachman’s warblers. These birds may have foraged for insects among the leaves and stalks, and used the stands as nesting sites and shelter.

Switch cane (A. tecta) is much smaller, usually under six feet, and thrives in slightly different habi-tat. But, until recently, it was not deemed a separate species from the giant form. Like its bigger sis-ter, switch cane also once grew in large thickets and served as food and shelter for wildlife.

Scientists are still discovering bamboo species in North America. A third U.S. species was identified just two years ago. Called the hill cane (A. appalachiana), it was found in the southern Appalachian Mountains, and, unlike the others, drops its leaves in the fall.

People might guess that the closest relatives of the North American bamboos are from South Amer-ica. But they’re not; they’re actually Asian. Genetic studies suggest that arrow bamboo, native to Ja-pan, may be giant canes’ next of kin, although they do not look very much alike. The arrow bamboo that giant pandas eat is the most abundant species at the Zoo.

Food for All

Only a few wild animals other than giant pandas consistently eat the leaves and stems of woody bamboos, which are low in nutritional value. The tough leaves and stems also require very strong teeth and jaws to crunch. Red pandas prefer tender new leaves, although they can crush tougher ones when necessary.

Shoots, however, find a place on the menus of many species. Shoots are the new growth of stalks that erupt from underground stems called rhizomes through which bamboo reproduces vegetatively. They are succulent, high-protein morsels, and abundant when they are in season. Giant pandas love them, as do takin, tufted deer, wild pigs, Asiatic black bears, and many other mammals that share the giant panda’s bamboo forest habitat in China.

Golden bamboo lemurs, a critically endangered primate of Madagascar, are year-round shoot spe-cialists. They dine almost exclusively on the shoots of a giant bamboo found only on that Indian Ocean island—despite the fact that these shoots are naturally laced with cyanide. These cat-sized

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Bamboo at the Zoo. (Mehgan Murphy /NZP)

animals ingest enough cyanide in a day to kill 12 similarly sized primates, without any apparent ill effects. How they cope with the poison is unknown, but related species haven’t evolved the same capacity. The greater bamboo lemur eats only the pulp and culms of the giant bamboo, while the gentle bamboo lemur eats the shoots of a different bamboo species; both avoid the giant bamboo shoots.

Bamboo shoots are also seasonal favorites of eastern mountain gorillas in Africa. Large males gorge themselves on as many as 75 pounds of the tasty treats a day in the dry season, when the shoots form about 90 percent of their diet. These shoots are full of cyanide too, and the gorillas suffer from diar-rhea during their shoot binges. Scientists suspect gorillas cope by eating a particular kind of soil with chemical properties similar to those of Kaopectate, which we humans use to treat diarrhea and upset stomachs.

People enjoy bamboo shoots as well. To get rid of the toxins, they boil the bamboo shoots in several changes of water. The majority of commercially available shoots come from just a few Asian species grown on plantations. A cultivated varietyof one of these, Phyllostachys edulis, thrives on the Zoo’s Asia Trail. Originally from China, this species is now grown for shoots as well as for construction material throughout Southeast Asia.

Although commercial harvesting doesn’t affect giant panda food sources, local harvesting can affect giant pandas. In the spring, people swarm into the pandas’ bamboo forests to collect bamboo shoots for personal consumption and local markets. The shoots are sometimes the same species that pandas eat, but even when they aren’t, the presence of so many people in the forest may disturb the sensitive bears.

The four species of Asian bamboo rats are also confirmed bamboo lovers. These burrowing rodents live mostly underground, tunneling through the soil and munching on the roots of bamboo. On the other side of the world, four SouthAmerican bamboo rats, known as coro-coro, also rodents but not closely related to the Asian varie-ties, live in tangled bamboo thickets and eat the plant’s leaves, stems, and shoots.

Many animals feast on bamboo seeds when they are available. And this brings us to the most enig-matic feature of bamboos. Most of these plants grow for a long time, spreading via the branching of their underground rhizomes and then, in one big burst, flower, set seeds, and die. What’s more, all members of a species, or all those in a particular area, do this in waves over several years. The inter-vals between flowering events vary from three to 100-plus years, most often 15 to 60 years, depend-ing on the species. Japanese timber bamboo, Phyllostachys bambusoides, found at the Zoo on Asia Trail, is the champ in this regard, waiting 120 years for its first flowering bout.

Scientists don’t know what triggers mass flowering, or why bamboos have evolved this unique re-productive strategy. But some animals take advantage of the massive numbers of seeds that suddenly appear when an abundant species finally fruits. In Asia, rats of various species eat the seeds. After feasting, they reproduce prodigiously and plagues of rats end up invading human croplands and dwellings in search of food once the seeds are gone.

Many birds also eat bamboo seeds, and a few birds even specialize on them. Some South American

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species, including the critically endangered purple-winged ground-dove, follow the waves of seed-ing Guadua bamboo, moving nomadically in search of new patches, while the related maroon-chested ground-dove breeds in seeding Chusquea bamboo stands.

Many more birds, including insect-eating species, make their homes in bamboo thickets that are abundant in food. According to Birdlife International, more than 15 Asian birds live almost exclu-sively in bamboo and many more use bamboo as a significant part of their habitat. Similarly, in Peru, scientists have found 19 birds that live primarily in Guadua bamboo. The bamboo foliagegleaner not only lives in Guadua thickets, it builds its nest inside the bamboo’s twoand- one-half-inch diameter stems, which are hollow between the joints.

Three species of tiny Asian bats also roost in the hollow sections of large bamboo species. The larg-est of these, the greater bamboo bat, is less than two inches long, followed by the lesser bamboo bat, at about 1.5 inches, and the smaller still pygmy bamboo bat, which was discovered in China in 2007. All these bats have flattened skulls that enable them to slip into the bamboo stems through narrow slits created by beetles. As many as two dozen lesser bamboo bats may roost in a single hollow sec-tion averaging about ten inches long and nine inches in diameter.

Building With Bamboo

As important as bamboo is to a diverse array of wildlife, it is immensely important to people too. Some 1,500 different uses of bamboo have been recorded, including food, fuel, medicine, clothing, paper, musical instruments, tools, baskets, and building material. Today, bamboo is touted as a sus-tainable alternative to timber, and the cultivation of bamboo is promoted by groups such as the In-ternational Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) as a way to alleviate poverty among poor ru-ral people in Asia, Africa, and South America. According to INBAR, “Virtually every product which is now produced from wood can be effectively produced from bamboo,” and more sustainably, too, thanks to the swift growth of many species. Phyllostachys bambusoides reportedly grows 47.6 inches in a single day. Growth rates of a foot or more a day are common, and culms reach 60 to 80 feet in one growing season.

The fast and seemingly never-ending replacement of harvested bamboo stalks means that Zoo browse-cutters are never out of work—and the Zoo’s bamboo-loving animals are never out of food.

—Susan Lumpkin is a freelance writer and avid gardener who is working on a book about rabbits.[Ed.note: Rabbits, The Animal Answer Guide by Susan Lumpkin and John Seidensticker, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in January 2011 and is available as an e-book.]

History and Folklore in Baliby Wawan Sujarwo, Bali Botanic Garden

Our occasional correspondent from Bali, Indonesia, Wawan Sujarwo, has sent some interesting informa-tion on the storage of historical sources in that area. With a colleague, he visited the site of Gedong Kirtya. From material there he summarized a folklore account of the Dutch way of overcoming the city of Singaraja.

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Gedong Kirtya

Holy objects are ordinarily stored out of sight in important places, but in Singaraja you can view sacred 'lontar' books at Gedong Kirtya at the east end of Veteran Street. The only library of its kind

in the world, the 3,000-odd 'lontar' that are stored in labeled tin boxes in this small nondescript archive record the literature, mythology, magic formulas, medical science, folklore, religion, and history of Bali and Lombok. Many of the 'lontar' were looted from the palace in Mataram during the Dutch military expedition to Lombok in 1894. The library was established in 1928 by L.J. Caron, a Dutch resident of that time. Pictograms above the gate show the year. These miniature pictures and texts, which are etched on the blades of the 'lontar' palm and protected by ornamented narrow wooden boards, are masterpieces of the art of illustration. The leaves are etched with a sharp knife, the incisions then filled with a mixture of soot and oil. One of the jobs of the museum is to transliterate the most ancient and rare palm-leaf texts into the romanized Balinese language. So sacred are these manuscripts that many Balinese are afraid to enter Gedong Kirtya lest they be cursed by spirits. One can find examples of 'prasasti', metal plates inscribed with old Balinese edicts from the Pejeng-Bedulu dynasty, which are among the earliest written documents found on the island. Gedung Kirtya also

contains rare Dutch and English books, a complete collection of traditional Balinese calendars dat-ing back to 1935, and an extensive archive of Balinese scriptures. These are actually high-quality copies; the originals remain with 'dukun' and rajas' families.

The History of Bambusa blumeana during Dutch Colonial Days in Bali, Indonesia

Bamboo represents one of three living philosophies of the Balinese. Bamboo is an integral part of Bali life, particularly in the rural populations. The coconut and banana are also used, but less com-monly. The people of Bali depend upon bamboo for every aspect of life from birth to death. For in-stance, Balinese utilize the bamboo as a knife to cut the navel when a baby is born, and bamboo is used to transport the body of an individual to the cemetery upon his demise. The Dutch colonial period marked a significant time in Balinese history. There are many interest-ing stories detailing how the Dutch manipulated the Balinese people, who were quite naive in their way of thinking. In the past, Bambusa blumeana grew abundantly throughout the coastline of the northern part of Bali Island. It formed a natural barrier, which prevented the Dutch from entering the island when they wanted to colonize Singaraja (the former capital city of Bali). According to the an-cestors, the Dutch threatened to attack Singaraja many times, but they couldn’t enter Singaraja due to B. blumeana. Therefore, Singaraja couldn’t be colonized by the Dutch for a long time. However, the Dutch were very smart and they were relentless in their quest to colonize Singaraja, so they were always devising new techniques to accomplish their goals. They came up with the idea

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of destroying the forest of B. blumeana, where it grows well and is sturdy. Many coins (money) were thrown by helicopter to the bamboo forest over a long period of time. Local people were overjoyed at this, because they didn’t have much money. As a result, they began to cut down all clumps of Bambusa blumeana throughout the coastline in pursuit of these coins. The livelihood of the Balinese people living in Singaraja gradually began to change. Conse-quently, this provided an opportunity for the Dutch to clear the forest of B. blumeana. Once that had been removed from the coastline, it was vulnerable and the Dutch moved in easily. The Dutch used weaponry and warships to attack Singaraja. In the end they were able to colonize Singaraja. The lo-cal people were saddened by this, because they realized, after it was too late, that the Dutch had used this strategy to conquer them.

Medicinal Uses of Bansalochan (Tabasheer)by Punya Poudyal

In a manuscript about long-ago medicinal uses of bamboo by natives of India, Punya Poudyal pre-sented information about tabasheer, which he knows as "Bansalochan." He obtained his information on medicinal uses from "books written in Sanskrit language many centuries ago," a source not read-ily available. Tabasheer is an amorphous hydrated silica (as is the rock opal), which occurs natu-rally inside several species of bamboo. See Tabasheer — The Rock in the Tree, by George Shor, re-printed in Bamboo, Vol. 32, Issue 3, June 2011, pp. 19-20. [Editor]

When we split a bamboo culm we find a jam-like sub-stance in an internode. This substance is known as Bansalochan (and ten other names) in Sanskrit language and "Bamboo Manna" [or tabasheer] in English. The liquid inside any internode coagulates gradually and so-lidifies. When it becomes dry it becomes hard, and the honey-color changes to white. Solid bamboo manna pos-sesses the quality of absorbing liquid and then becomes transparent. Maharathi (1961) claims that bansalochan is found only in Dendrocalamus strictus. But this author has found it in Bambusa nutans as well as in Melocanna bac-cifera. Historic sources describe and give many medicinal uses of bansalochan, as follows: Bansalochan’s taste is bitter-sweet. The following substances are found in it: aluminum, betaine [a crystalline alkaloid], colin [?], cyanogenetic glucoside, emulsifying enzymes, lime, nuclease [an en-zyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of nucleic acids], peroxide of iron, potash, proteolytic diastase [an enzyme that breaks down starch into maltose], urease [an enzyme that changes urea into ammonium carbonate], and silica 90% or silicum as a hydrate of silicic acid, (Maharathi, 1961). Bansalochan promotes in the manufacturing of semen, and has erotic power.

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If taken in small amounts it can cure asthma, cough, chronic fever, fever, feverish heat, giddiness, dyspepsia, jaundice, leprosy, rheumatism, tuberculosis, painful discharge of urine, and weakness; it destroys phlegm and strengthens the trachea. Bansalochan cures piles, stops the discharge of semen with urine, and cures diarrhea. A mixture of bansalochan and rose petals, when locally applied, cures sores and pimples. A thin paste of bansalochan applied on burn wounds and scalds helps in healing to some extent. Bansalochan increases the amount of blood, bone marrow, tissue, fat, and minerals, and it strengthens the bone. If a woman takes bansalochan during her pregnancy, the baby will be fair-complexioned. Although bansalochan has many medicinal values, it causes fatigue in sexual organs if taken in large amounts. It can be used in the treatment of vitiligo [a skin disorder of white patches], anxiety and heart diseases. It also strengthens the liver. Reference Maharathi, Upendra. 1961. Benu Shilpa, Bihar Rashtrabhasa Parishad, Patna, Bihar, India. 285 pp. Benu Shilpa (bamboo craftsmanship) was published in Hindi language soon after the author repatri-ated to India from Japan where he underwent training in bamboo craftsmanship.

Handicraft exhibit in Indiafrom Punya P. Poudyal

The Directorate of Handloom and Handicrafts, Government of Sikkim ar-ranged an exhibition and sale of handi-craft items in its office premises in Gang-tok, Sikkim from May 11 to 15, 2012. There were twelve exhibits with bamboo handicrafts and two with bamboo furni-ture. But one of the exhibits was very dis-tinctive. It carried antique bamboo prod-ucts made and used by the Lepcha tribe of a remote area called Zongu in northern Sikkim. The Lepchas, or the Lapchays [pronounced ‘Laapchay’. Lepcha is the anglicised version of Lapchay], as they were called until about half a century ago, are the original inhabitants of Sikkim before the arrival of the Bhutias from Bhot [Nepali for Tibet] and the Nepalese from Nepal into Sikkim. One of the exhibits included a traditional Lepcha hat called a "somok." It is 180 years old. Gopay bamboo, Cephalostachyum latifolium, is used to make this fine hat. A simple Lepcha hat costs Rs1,000 (US$20), but a very fine hat costs five times that.

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10th World Bamboo Congress Hosts Announcement: With great excitement and with great pleasure, the World Bamboo Organization announces the Official Hosts of the next World Bamboo Congress: Damyang-gun, South Korea Summer 2015 For those present at the recent 9th WBC in Antwerp, Belgium, it may come as no surprise, although applications from several groups were received and the final decision was challenging. The South Korean delegation from Damyang-gun attending the 9th WBC came prepared with an introductory video and personal ap-peal of the County Governor, Mr. Choi Hyung-sik, inviting all to Damyang in hope of being selected as Official Hosts for the 10th WBC; they are thrilled now with the realization that indeed we will come!

Damyang county is located in the southwest corner of South Ko-rea, in Jeollanum-do. It enjoys a southern continental climate and temperate climate forest zone with high temperatures and precipi-tation in summer, providing ideal conditions for bamboo growth. The county has 1,797 hectares of bamboo forest equal to 25.5% of Korea's total bamboo habitat. It is rural and scenic, far from the hectic city of Seoul, and very much worth the travel to get there, especially if you want to see bamboo forests!

Damyang has been home to bamboo craft for about 300 years and since 2003 promotes the development of "New Bamboo Products" as a means to boost the local economy. The "Bamboo Park" in the capital town of the county attracts approx. 1.3 million visitors annually. Not only will the 10th World Bamboo Congress take place in Damyang. The city will host the "Damyang World Bamboo Exposition 2015" for an entire month, from Jun. 20th to Jul. 19th 2015. This exposition will show ways to improve the value of bamboo on an international level under the slogan "Green future out of the bamboo forest". The exposition will consist of a variety of exhibi-tion halls including halls for ecology, history, science, construction and Green Development. The event will be complemented by several cultural programs and workshops and highlighted by the hosting of the 10th WBC. Stay tuned for details, exact dates, program development and tour packages. Most impor-tantly, SAVE THE DATES and plan to attend! With best regards to all of you out there in the world of bamboo, Susanne Lucas, Executive Director WBO and Michel Abadie, President WBO

[Ed. note: Several URL’s accompanied the announcement. Copy and paste these into your browser to see some of the natural beauty of the region!]

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http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=815403&nearBy=sitehttp://worldbamboo.cmail1.com/t/r-l-krjjdik-butnirhr-o/http://worldbamboo.cmail1.com/t/r-l-krjjdik-butnirhr-p/http://worldbamboo.cmail1.com/t/r-l-krjjdik-butnirhr-u/

Hurricane Isaac — One account by a bambuseroby Gerald Morris Gerald ("Brooks") Morris was president of the American Bamboo Society in 2004-2005. He and his wife Halcyon live in Slidell, Louisiana, not far from New Orleans, and their house suffered severe damage from hurricane Katrina in 2005. Thanks for your concerns and wishes of well being during our recent visit by hurricane ISAAC. Thankfully, we had no major problems. No water or storm damage to the house. We chose not to leave even though we were under a "recommended evacuation." We spent Sunday and Monday get-ting ready, moving some items from lower level to a slightly-raised level (two feet). Valuables went to the bank safe-deposit box, and we got extra cash for the emergency. We were somewhat prepared for the event. We did lose electricity for a few days, but it is now back and stable. Our damages seem to be in the loss of some frozen foods during our power-outage and a lot of small limbs and leaves cluttering the drive and yard. We have cleared the drive and are working on the yard. There was water on some of our streets, but if you took the proper zigs and zags you could still go places. Not that we had many places to go, but I did help friends raise a baby grand pi-ano and other furnishings. Now if we can just remember where all that stuff goes that we moved we will be back to our normal state of "ab-normal". We lost power about 6 am on Tuesday, and for 2-3 days when the house was dark we spent many hours on the front porch watching the wind and rain. Both were very erratic. There would be times of near calm, then other times the tree-tops would swing and sway. At other times the rain would be heavy, then nothing. I'm not sure how high the wind speeds were, but we never felt threatened on the porch. We have several pots of impa-tiens in the front, and I do not think there was a single blossom lost from the wind. Most all businesses were shut tight during Tuesday through Thursday. A few were open on Friday, and by Saturday most was back to normal in our general area. I believe on Friday we went to lunch at Wendy’s and drove around a bit. When I drove to Wal-Mart on Saturday, they were admitting people about ten at a time to avoid congestion. A line of about 70 people convinced me to try an-other grocery. The southern area of Slidell, particularly the residential areas that border the lake and have canals and boat docks, were hard hit. The lake suffered a surge when the winds first pushed the water to the west, then as the hurricane passed that extra water came back east in a quick surge.

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Magazine of the American Bamboo Society October 2012 Vol. 33 Issue 5

Hurricane Isaac, August 28 2012 photo by NASA.

Utilities are still struggling to restore electrical power in many areas of New Orleans. Other areas south and west of New Orleans suffered severe damage, mostly for the water that was pushed into the areas. Many of which had not suffered any hurricane damages in several decades. Most authori-ties are saying the major difficulty was the stalling of the hurricane and the continuous but moderate pounding the area sustained. Hurricanes are typically classified by their maximum wind speed, but in reality they each have their own "flavor." Much of that depends upon how it approaches land, di-rection of travel, how fast it is moving forward and how long it takes to pass through the area. This one fooled everyone by stalling and continuing to pound the area.

Brooks and Halcyon Morris

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Bamboo Facts• Tallest

Culms 140-150 feet are known. Zollinger measured a Gigantochloa aspera of 170 feet (1876). Guin-ness Book of World Records: 121.5 feetSeveral species regularly exceed 100 feet; some tropical species regularly get 140 – 150 feet tall.

• Longest culm:Dinochloa andamanica, a clambering bamboo from Malaysia has culms to 90 meters (297 feet)

• Biggest basal diameterDendrocalamus giganteus: 30 cm (12 inches).

• Fastest growthPhyllostachys pubescens (Moso) and P. bambusoides have been measured at nearly 48 inches in a 24 hour period. Dendrocalamus species grow nearly as fast.

• Typical growthRunning bamboos send up shoots in spring, clumpers in summer. Shoot elongation takes 30 – 60 days or so.

• Longevity Culms live several years; very long-lived culms up to 30 years.

• Largest leaves 2 Colombian species have leaves that are 12’ long, the largest leaves known in the grass family.

• Geographic range:Northern-most native: Sasa kurilensis, 46 degrees N on Sakhalin Island north of JapanNorthern-most in cultivation: Fargesia nitida at 70 degrees N in Norway.Southern-most native: Chusquea culeou at 47 degrees S in the beech forests of southern Chile.Highest altitude: Ecuadorian species grows at 12,000 feet in the Andes. Hardiest: several species can tolerate temperatures at -20 degrees F, including Fargesia nitida. Phyl-lostachys species can tolerate very low temperatures.

• Leaf productionP. pubescens produces four to six tons of leaves per acre compared to two to four tons for P. bambu-soides. Northern hardwood forests produce 0.75 tons (3/4 ton) of leaves per acre.

guidelines set forth in the ABS Bylaws. Groups or or-ganizations not on the above list which claim to be ABS Chapters are doing so fraudulently. Any claim of nonprofit tax-exempt status by such groups is invalid unless they have obtained such status independently.

At-Large RepresentativesDaphne Lewis

e-mail - at-large1@bamboo.orgTerm 2013

James Clevere-mail - at-large2@bamboo.orgTerm 2012.

Carole Meckesemail – at-large3@bamboo.orgTerm 2014.

International RepresentativeDurnford Dart

email – international@bamboo.orgTerm 2012

ABS TreasurerDawn Weaver

e-mail - treasurer@bamboo.org.ABS Web Site - www.bamboo.orgWebmaster Ariel Dubov

e-mail - support@bamboo.orgEditor of journal: Bamboo Science & CultureJohan Gielis

e-mail - journal@bamboo.orgArts & Crafts CoordinatorCharissa Brock

e-mail – artsandcrafts@bamboo.org

BAMBOO MagazineDon Shor, editorBetty Shor, co-editormailing address: 1607 Fifth St., Davis, CA 95616

e-mail - magazine@bamboo.org

Conservation Bamboo Of The Americas (BOTA)Gib Cooper, Dir.

email gib@bamboodirect.comSue Turtle, Treas.

email treasurer@bamboo.orgweb – www.bamboooftheamericas.org

Advertising: Tracy Callise-mail - advertising@bamboo.org

Membership: Janet Matherlye-mail - membership@bamboo.orgBamboo Help Line: Kinder Chambers and Noah Belle-mail - help@bamboo.orgImportation/Quarantine: Cliff Sussmane-mail - importation@bamboo.org

American Bamboo SocietyOfficers and Directors

President: James Clever, Pacific Northwest Chapter president@bamboo.orgVice President: Tom Harlow, Southeast Chapter vicepresident@bamboo.orgSecretary: David King, Northern California Chapter secretary@bamboo.orgTreasurer: Dawn Weaver treasurer@bamboo.org

Board of Directors and Standing PositionsFlorida/Caribbean DirectorTracy Calla e-mail fc-chapter@bamboo.org

Term 2013.Hawaii DirectorNorm Bezona

e-mail - hi-chapter@bamboo.orgTerm 2014.

Louisiana-Gulf Coast DirectorJim Bonner

e-mail - lgc-chapter@bamboo.orgTerm 2012.

Mid-States Chapter DirectorDan Fox

e-mail – mid-chapter@bamboo.orgTerm 2014

Northeast DirectorSusanne Lucas

e-mail – ne-chapter@bamboo.orgTerm 2014.

Northern California DirectorDavid King

e-mail - ncal-chapter@bamboo.orgTerm 2014.

Pacific Northwest DirectorBill Hollenback

e-mail – pnw-chapter@bamboo.orgTerm 2012.

Southeast DirectorTom Harlow

e-mail - se-chapter@bamboo.orgTerm 2013

Southern California DirectorCliff Sussman

e-mail - scal-chapter@bamboo.orgTerm 2013.

Texas DirectorSteve Muzos

e-mail - tbs-chapter@bamboo.orgTerm 2012.The above listed Chapters are the only ones recog-

nized by the ABS Board of Directors. The Board has the ultimate authority to approve or disapprove appli-cant groups as ABS Chapters, in accordance with

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Magazine of the American Bamboo Society October 2012 Vol. 33 Issue 5

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Magazine of the American Bamboo Society October 2012 Vol. 33 Issue 5

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Magazine of the American Bamboo Society October 2012 Vol. 33 Issue 5

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