Bamboo Mass Blooming Mystery

In some bamboo species, entire populations bloom at the same time after intervals of roughly 40 to 120 years, even when the plants grow in completely different parts of the world. Plants cloned from the same original stock can still flower together regardless of geography or climate. After blooming, they usually die, which can wipe out huge stands of bamboo in one sweep. Scientists think each plant carries some kind of internal timing mechanism, but exactly how that clock works remains a mystery.

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