There is a type of bamboo in the world that blooms only once every 120 years and then dies. Japanese scientists have discovered worrying signs that bamboo is not regenerating after flowering, and that an environmental catastrophe could occur.
since Phyllostachys nigra var. com. henonish More than a century passes between the flowering of the bamboo species known by its Latin name, and botanists don’t have many opportunities to study plant regeneration. The last major bloom occurred in 1908, although there were also some blooms between 1903 and 1912, so the next bloom is expected to occur around 2028. IFL Science On the scientific portal.
To their surprise, in 2020 researchers at Hiroshima University discovered a plant that bloomed beautifully and early, and they used the opportunity to immediately begin studying bamboo regeneration. The expert team has reached a dramatic conclusion: the next flowering event could spell disaster for bamboo production and the environment.
Bamboo did not produce viable seeds that would germinate. Bamboo shoot development stops after flowering. In the three years following flowering, the plant showed no signs of regeneration. said first author Toshihiro Yamada in a statement.
According to the research group’s observations, the plant does not reproduce asexually.
In the area examined, all stem remains were destroyed, and there were no obvious signs of regeneration by seed transplantation or stem remains. “These results herald a bleak future for bamboo species in Japan.” – The research team added in the study.
The study’s authors expect that the bamboo regeneration process will be very slow and may take several years. For this reason, it will not be possible to harvest bamboo, and this could cause serious economic damage to the Asian country. In addition, the decline of bamboo trees could also lead to an environmental disaster, because the vegetation could also be completely transformed, endangering other native organisms.
The complete study is A One plus It can be read in a scientific journal.
