Grasses are very successful, efficient plants. There are more than 5,000 species of grass in the grass family, gramineae. Bamboos are the woody tribe within the grass family. Bamboos are successful and efficient like the rest of the grasses. There are 1350 species of bamboo.
Bamboos convert sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into wood very efficiently.
Bamboo grows wood faster and more sustainably than trees. Bamboo wood fiber is the ultimate renewable resource. Private citizens introduced bamboo into the United States as an ornamental plant beginning in the late 1800's. The United States Department of Agriculture began introducing and researching bamboo as a new farm crop around 1919. Although the Department continued these activities off and on for 50 years, farmers and the general public remained unaware of bamboo's potential as a profitable farm crop.