C K John is a scientist at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. He has been involved in research on bamboos since 1990. His area of special interest is the evolution of the peculiar flowering behaviour of bamboos. He also writes popular articles on science related topics.

Rajani S Nadgauda is the Head of the Tissue Culture Pilot Plant at National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. She has been involved in research on economically important plants and trees for more than two and a half decades. She has done some pioneering work on the tissue culture propagation and induced precocious flowering and seeding of tissue cultured bamboos.

Bamboos form a group of enigmatic plants that have attracted the attention of mankind from time immemorial. The ‘peculiar’ behaviour of many woody bamboos, of flowering only once at the end of very long vegetative growth phases (3-120 years or more), and dying thereafter, has intrigued mankind for long. This interesting natural phenomenon still remains a mystery. The abundance and variety of bamboos, their fast growth, innumerable uses, their emergence as ornamental plants, and the curious way in which their peculiar flowering behaviour is entangled with the survival of the giant pandas, are interesting.

Read full article (406 Kb)

Address for Correspondence
C K John
Tissue Culture Pilot Plant
National Chemical Laboratory
Pune 411008, India.
Email: ckjohn@dalton.ncl.res.in