Nature field note
Speedy grower
The Bamboo Race
Some bamboo can grow almost a meter taller in a single day, making it one of the fastest-growing plants on Earth.
Let's look closer
How can a plant grow so fast?
bamboo stem already contains all of its future sections packed tightly inside the young shoot, folded up like a collapsed telescope waiting to extend. Once warmth and rain arrive, each section stretches open almost all at once, rather than growing new material bit by bit the way most plants do. This lets the whole plant shoot upward in a rush of growth, powered mostly by water pressure pushing into cells that were already formed and simply waiting to expand.
Look for this
Explorer clue
If you find a bamboo grove, look for pale rings along the stem. Each one marks where a new section unfolded.
Your turn to wonder
Curiosity question
If you could grow as fast as bamboo for just one day, what would you want to reach?
Keep wandering
