List of bamboo species

Bamboo is a group of woody perennial plants in the true grass family Poaceae. In the tribe Bambuseae, also known as bamboo, there are 91 genera and over 1,000 species. The size of bamboo varies from small annuals to giant timber bamboo. Bamboo evolved 30 to 40 million years ago, after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.

Bamboo species can be divided into two groups: sympodial (clumping) and monopodial (running) species. Sympodial species grow from the soil in a slowly expanding tuft, while monopodial species send underground rhizomes to produce shoots several metres from the original "parent" plant.

All Chinese names for bamboo contain the character "竹" (zhu), and the shape of the character depicts two leafed twigs of bamboo. When used by itself, the character simply means "bamboo"; however, it is also found in hundreds of other Chinese words and phrases. "Every day our written language reminds us of the antiquity of China's partnership with bamboo." (Dr. W. Y. Hsiung).