Bamboo is a group of woody perennial plants in the true grass family Poaceae.
In the tribe Bambuseae, also known as bamboo, there are 91 genera and over 1,000 species.
Bamboo evolved 30 to 40 million years ago, after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event.
Bamboo species can be divided into two groups: sympodial (clumping) and monopodial (running) species.
Sympodial species grow from the soil in a slowly expanding tuft, while monopodial species send underground rhizomes to produce shoots several metres from the original "parent" plant.