To which family of plants does bamboo belong?

Bamboo belongs to the grass family ("Poaceae"). Species of Bamboo are native to most continents, except Europe. Most of today’s cultivated species originate from China, Japan or South and Central America.

Many of these species hail from mountainous regions or lowland plains of Asia where, in both cases, winter temperatures can drop as low as -25 to -30 degree Celsius (-15 to -20 degrees Fahrenheit). The consequent hardiness of these bamboos makes them ideal plants for the temperate regions of Europe and North America.

There is a number of tropical species of bamboo which originate from Africa, Australia and tropical parts of Asia. These require frost free conditions to survive in home gardens, but they are often amongst the most spectacular specimens you will find.

Most bamboos either have a running root system or a clumping root system.

Individual stems of bamboo are called culms. They arise from the underground rhizome and emerge from the ground fully developed. Bamboo can survive more than 120 years in the wild.