Giant Bamboo

Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. Bamboos are some of the fastest-growing plants in the world, due to a unique rhizome-dependent system.

Bamboo is the national plant of St. Lucia in the Caribbean.

And for some local information:

For indigestion, three yellow leaves of the bamboo are boiled with the root of jejanm, (Zingiber officinale). Bamboo shoots are eaten as a vegetable. zeb a zedjwi reportedly helps women with sore breasts or lumps on the breast. To make a poultice for this problem mix the plant with lard, take a cabbage leaf, pass it over fire, put the mixture on it and wrap the breast. For children with bles, pound the plant, put in a little water, squeeze it, and a little coconut oil (Coco nucifera) and salt to this water and give to the child first thing in the morning, about a teaspoonful. An infusion of needlegrass is drunk for diabetes or, for cooling, five leaves of needlegrass and five lemon buds are drawn separately in four ounces of water. Drink 40 ounces a day. For fevers, boil the leaves and sweeten. A tea for gas is made of three leaves of bamboo, three of koton (Gossypium barbadense), and a stem of mint.

It is reported that, as a fatal poison, the bamboo prickles are put into a drink, usually beer, of the person to be destroyed. This may explain why, at a bar in St. Lucia, a beer is always opened in front of the customer. Antidote for this poisoning is the gwenn djiné (Cyperus rotundus). It is also believed that possessing the seed of the bamboo gives you power to become a duppy person (malevolent person).