Next hachiku bamboo flowering event was due in 2028 – but three years ago botanists made a shocking discovery
Bamboos can take years or even decades to flower, but the hachiku bamboo pushes this habit to the extreme – it flowers once every 120 years, synchronised across masses of plants, and dies shortly afterwards.
The last time the bamboo Phyllostachys nigra variety henonis flowered was in 1908, so the next event was expected in 2028 with great anticipation. But in 2020 botanists in Japan noticed that a few specimens began flowering early. However, they were shocked to discover that after flowering the bamboos failed to produce any viable seeds, or grow new shoots, and entire forests of bamboo collapsed and died in an act of mass self-destruction.
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