The long interval of flowering and seeding has made propagation of
bamboos very difficult. Offset plantings are not suitable for large scale plantations.
Attemps with branch cutting, layering, etc. for propagation showed
low percentage of success. Tissue culture has yet to be tried.
In tissue culture the entire primordial structure might have to be used
as a propagule unlike the use of only callus tissue as in the case of dicots.
The present study showed that rhizome buds are monoprimordial, represented
by the cone of rudimentary sheaths only. The food stored in the rhizome
and rhizomatous swelling is utilized by their lateral and terminal buds. The
root primordia are borne outside rhizome-buds. The culm and branch-buds
are multiprimordial. Each structure is similar to the rhizome consisting of
root, rhizome and shoot primordia.