Plant that can grow 3ft a day

QUESTION What is the fastestgrowing plant?

BamBoo. It belongs to the

Bambusoideae subfamily of the perennial evergreen grass family Poaceae (Gramineae).

a single bamboo culm reaches full height in one growing season. It then persists for several years, neither growing broader nor taller.

The claim that bamboo grows 2-3 ft a day (around 1.5 in an hour) is misleading, as not all bamboo species grow that fast.

There are some 1,575 identified species of Bambusoideae in 111 different genera, which all grow at different rates.

The Guinness World Records states that the world record for the fastest-growing plant ‘belongs to certain bamboo species’.

one species of bamboo that can grow at these speeds is the moso Bamboo or Chinese moso

(Phyllostachys edulis).

It is the most important commercial species, used in the bamboo textile.

after the moso is planted, no visible growth occurs for up to five years — then it suddenly begins growing 2-3 ft per day, reaching a full height of 90 ft within six weeks.

The moso’s rapid growth is enabled by miles of roots it develops in its first five years.

May Cox, Brighton, E. Sussex.

QUESTION Does the moniker ‘The People’s Princess’ predate Princess Diana?

FURTHER to the earlier answer, by the 1880s, Princess mary adelaide — dubbed The People’s Princess — was deeply in debt.

one to whom she owed money was mr John Barker, who had a department store in Kensington.

at a meeting of a charity of which mr Barker had been a generous supporter, mary adelaide turned to him and said with a smile: ‘Now I must propose a special vote of thanks to mr Barker, to whom we all owe so much.’ Coryne Hall, Royal biographer, Whitehill, Hants.