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I would also argue that bamboo isn't wood, it's a cane. Woody hollow stems which don't grow rings, are canes. If less woody and more herbaceous, it's a reed.
by samatman 6y ago
I would also argue that bamboo isn't wood, it's a cane.
Woody hollow stems which don't grow rings, are canes. If less woody and more herbaceous, it's a reed.
The "tiebreaker" if you will, is palm wood. No rings, but it's dense, not hollow, it has a grain and it's lignin-rich. You can make planks with it. It's a weird wood, but it's wood. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_timber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coconut_timber
- robbrown451 6y agoI don't disagree that bamboo is a cane, but that doesn't necessarily make it non-wood. Ultimately "wood" is just a word, people will use it however they do.
- samatman 6y agoI agree completely, what I'm trying to do is describe how these words are used by people with a stake in the matter. Woodworkers, for example. Canes take the adjective "woody" but not the noun "wood". Bamboo can make some interesting laminate materials, but these are not normally referred to as wood either, although they are lumber.
- robbrown451 6y agoYeah, either a woodworker or a botanist might have different definitions than "regular people". But "wood" is an everyday word. There are various things in my house -- trays or spoons or boxes or the like -- made of bamboo, but that I would refer to as "wood" simply because I never even looked closely enough to notice that technically it is bamboo (or maybe I have, but the distinction seems extremely minor in practice). I've done a fair amount of woodworking, but I don't think I've ever worked with bamboo. But if I were to, I'd be a lot more attuned to the distinction.