Some species of bamboo can grow about 90 cm in a single day.

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How fast, exactly?

Some bamboo species can grow about 91 cm in 24 hours. That's nearly 4 cm every hour, fast enough to see the difference over a single day.

How it grows so fast

A new bamboo stem, called a culm, pushes out of the ground already at its full width. It then shoots up to its full height in a single growing season of about three to four months, and never gets any wider.

Common myth

Bamboo isn't a tree. It's a giant grass, from the same plant family as wheat, rice and the grass on a lawn.

Test yourself

Sources

• Wikipedia: Bamboo
• Wikipedia: Poaceae (grass family)

Fact-checked 14 October 2026 · Report a mistake