Friday, December 16, 2016

You'd Better Never Bother With Me Ol' Bamboo

That "bamboo" that has been washing up on our beaches with every recent rainstorm is not bamboo after all (click here). San Geraldo was right to question "where all that bamboo is coming from." He finally suggested it was "fake Pampas Grass." I got what he meant: Something that looks so much like Pampas Grass that it is often mistaken for it.

So I Googled: "What looks like pampas grass and bamboo, but is not." Well, San Geraldo was right (imagine that).

NOT BAMBOO, NOR PAMPAS GRASS.

The scientific name is Arundo donax (click here if you'd like to learn about it — for next week's exam), but a couple of its common names are Giant Cane or Spanish Cane. It's native to the Mediterranean. Until yesterday evening we had a 'Giant Giant Cane' mountain across the street. Crews worked for more than 12 hours to pile it all up and then load and haul away several truckloads. There were mounds of the cane all along the beaches of Fuengirola. A huge job.

BLUE SKIES AND SUNSHINE BEFORE THE CLOUDS RETURNED.
SNOW AND CLOUDS ON THE MOUNTAINS BEYOND.
A SMALLER LOAD NOT FAR FROM THE PORT.

Thanks to a recent comment by Walt (click here for his blog called "wcs"),
I felt inspired to include this video.
(In other words, blame Walt.)

20 comments:

  1. Very interesting, señor! Where did it come from, though? I mean, why is it washing up on the shore?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Judy:
      Sorry! It grows all over, in the mountains, along the river banks, etc. It was washed downriver and also down the flood channels and out into the sea. The tide than brought it right to shore.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Gosia:
      It's been appearing briefly every so often, but we haven't seen much these past two days!

      Delete
  3. I see the big clean up continues! That is a LOT of the stuff isn't it!?! At least with Christmas pending the weather is staying nice for you finally. We're expecting our first little snow and sleet tonight late, but not suppose to amount to much. But Baby, its cold outside.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mistress maddie:
      And now that they've cleaned the debris from the beach and hauled it all away, another rain storm, winds, and high seas arrived late yesterday. It's majestic but another mess will follow.

      Delete
  4. WOW! That is a lot of cane! I am wondering where it is all coming from? Some place is being eroded with a vengeance.
    We can get that much seaweed wash ashore but it is expected.
    On a side note....speaking of bamboo....we hear there is variety that will survive our winters here in Nova Scotia....... a spring project.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jim:
      It grows like crazy wherever it crazy and requires lots of maintenance to hold it back. Fortunately it also has lots of uses and benefits. One benefit is that it significantly REDUCES erosion. So, it's coming down from the hillsides, from fields, from open land, along the canals. I LOVE bamboo. We planted it around our property in San Diego making a point of using only the "clumping" kind. Running bamboo is almost impossible to control. We had giant timber bamboo and Mexican bamboo. Beautiful.

      Delete
  5. I'm sure I would have pegged it as bamboo also.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Stephen:
      Jerry thought it was a reed, but I had inspected it and told him the more mature stems were obviously woody bamboo. When I looked up his "fake" pampas grass, that was one of the qualities described.

      Delete
  6. The Old Bamboo! Another mystery solved! The next mystery is which of you is Sherlock and which is Watson?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wilma:
      Well... I think we both have our own Sherlock and Watson moments.

      Delete
  7. Ah, you went there. Good, grasshopper. I've heard this song more times this month than I did in my childhood. Aaack!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Walt the Fourth:
      And I now can't get the song out of my head. Double-aaack!

      Delete
  8. Glad to see the beach and view are being clearing and brought back quickly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Travel:
      And it's again been raining and blowing, and the surf has been wild. More mess I'm sure!

      Delete
  9. I cannot imagine cleaning that up afterwards!!

    I hope you have a Merry Christmas :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Optimistic:
      I've really been impressed with the job the City does maintaining everything. The clean-up crews are exceptional. I sure wouldn't want to have to do that job.

      Delete
  10. I remember this song and movie! what a memory.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spo:
      I remember bits of the movie. I was a little too old to see it when it come out (it wouldn't have been cool), so I watched on TV with my brother. Honest Truly.

      Delete

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