Kawayan

Uses

Linnæus and Blanco include in the genus Bambus all the different species of bamboo to which the Spaniards have given the general name of caña. The plant is of incomparable value to the natives of the Philippines; they build their houses of it, make agricultural and industrial instruments of it, use it in all the varied apparatus of their fisheries and for a multitude of household utensils and furniture.

The variety B. arundinacea, Retz. (B. arundo, Blanco), Kawayag-totóo, Tag., is the largest and most generally employed in making houses and furniture. The tender shoots prepared in lime water are edible but have the deserved reputation of being difficult of digestion.

The variety Schizostachyum acutiflorum, Munro (B. diffusa, Blanco), Osiw, Bokawy, Tag., is less used. The shoots are used to treat opacity of the cornea, for which purpose they are cut when about a palm in height, the outer leaves removed, and the center soaked over night with a little sugar candy. The following day the water in the bottom of the jar is collected and used to paint the cornea.

The variety Dendrocalamus sericens, Munro (B. mitis, Blanco), Taywanak, Tag., is also used in medicine. Its abundant sap is given internally in the treatment of phthisis.

All of the above species and the Dendrocalamus flagellifer, Munro (B. levis, Blanco), Boho, Tag., produce at their joints a hard porcelain-like substance, friable, of opaline color, called “bamboo stone” or “tabashir” in India, where, as well as in the Philippines and Indo-China, it has great repute among the popular remedies. It is given in venereal diseases, hiccough, hemorrhage, fevers and other diseases. As a matter of fact, it is an almost inert substance, the imaginary virtues of which originated, doubtless, in the apparently remarkable fact that a stone (?) was produced inside of a vegetable.

The analysis of M. Guibourt is as follows:

[table omitted; see the source text]

European analyses make the amount 1–2.2 per cent.