They range from plants the size of field grass to giants of 120 feet in height and a foot in thickness. The most striking characteristic of bamboo is its vertical growth. No other living thing grows so tall so fast. Bamboo finds a large place in engineering. Vast buildings have been constructed with this material, as well as scaffolding for the construction of modern 20th-century buildings.
Scaffolding is tied to building facades, rather than being self supported from the ground.
It has withstood typhoons when steel framework has crumpled. Chinese bridges, hanging from cables of twisted bamboo, are ancestors of the entire world's suspension spans. Bamboo can be used in ceilings, moldings, rainspouts, gutters and posts. In Europe bamboo is used in horticulture, as supports for tomatoes, melons, hops, and fruits. Scandinavia imports it for ski poles and to mark the borders of roads buried under snow.