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Bamboo

Bamboos are a diverse group of mostly evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family, in the case of Dendrocalamus sinicus having individual stalks (culms) reaching a length of 46 meters, up to 36 centimeters in thickness and a weight of up to 450 kilograms. The internodes of bamboos can also be of great length. Kinabaluchloa wrayi has internodes up to 2.5 meters in length. and Arthrostylidium schomburgkii has internodes up to 5 meters in length, exceeded in length only by papyrus. By contrast, the stalks of the tiny bamboo Raddiella vanessiae of the savannas of French Guiana measure only 10–20 millimeters in length by about two millimeters in width. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, but it probably comes from the Dutch or Portuguese language, which originally borrowed it from Malay or Kannada.

In bamboo, as in other grasses, the internodal regions of the stem are usually hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross-section are scattered throughout the walls of the stalk instead of in a cylindrical cambium layer between the bark (phloem) and the wood (xylem) as in dicots and conifers. The dicotyledonous woody xylem is also absent. The absence of secondary growth wood causes the stems of monocots, including the palms and large bamboos, to be columnar rather than tapering.

Bamboos include some of the fastest-growing plants in the world, due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. Certain species of bamboo can grow 91 cm within a 24-hour period, at a rate of almost 40 mm an hour (equivalent to 1 mm every 90 seconds). Growth up to 120 centimeters (47.6 inches) in 24 hours has been observed in the instance of Japanese giant timber bamboo (Phyllostachys bambusoides). This rapid growth and tolerance for marginal land, make bamboo a good candidate for afforestation, carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation.

Bamboo is versatile and has notable economic and cultural significance in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia, being used for building materials, as a food source, and as a raw product, and depicted often in arts, such as in bamboo paintings and bambooworking. Bamboo, like wood, is a natural composite material with a high strength-to-weight ratio useful for structures. Bamboo's strength-to-weight ratio is similar to timber, and its strength is generally similar to a strong softwood or hardwood timber. Some bamboo species have displayed remarkable strength under test conditions. Bambusa tulda of Bangladesh and adjoining India has tested as high as 60,000 psi (400 MPa) in tensile strength. Other bamboo species make extraordinarily hard material. Bambusa tabacaria of China contains so much silica that it will make sparks when struck by an axe.

Taxonomy
Bamboos have long been considered the most basal grass genera, mostly because of the presence of bracteate, indeterminate inflorescences, "pseudospikelets", and flowers with three lodicules, six stamens, and three stigmata. Following more recent molecular phylogenetic research, many tribes and genera of grasses formerly included in the Bambusoideae are now classified in other subfamilies, e.g. the Anomochlooideae, the Puelioideae, and the Ehrhartoideae. The subfamily in its current sense belongs to the BOP clade of grasses, where it is sister to the Pooideae (bluegrasses and relatives).

The bamboos comprise three clades classified as tribes, and these strongly correspond with geographic divisions representing the New World herbaceous species (Olyreae), tropical woody bamboos (Bambuseae), and temperate woody bamboos (Arundinarieae). The woody bamboos do not form a monophyletic group; instead, the tropical woody and herbaceous bamboos are sister to the temperate woody bamboos. Altogether, more than 1,400 species are placed in 115 genera.

21 genera:
 * Subtribe Buergersiochloinae
 * one genus: Buergersiochloa.
 * Subtribe Olyrineae
 * 17 genera: Agnesia, Arberella, Cryptochloa, Diandrolyra, Ekmanochloa, Froesiochloa, Lithachne, Maclurolyra, Mniochloa, Olyra, Parodiolyra, Piresiella, Raddia, Raddiella, Rehia, Reitzia (syn. Piresia), Sucrea.
 * Subtribe Parianinae
 * three genera: Eremitis, Pariana, Parianella.

73 genera:
 * Subtribe Arthrostylidiinae:
 * 15 genera: Actinocladum, Alvimia, Arthrostylidium, Athroostachys, Atractantha, Aulonemia, Cambajuva, Colanthelia, Didymogonyx, Elytrostachys, Filgueirasia, Glaziophyton, Merostachys, Myriocladus, Rhipidocladum.
 * Subtribe Bambusinae:
 * 17 genera: Bambusa, Bonia, Cochinchinochloa, Dendrocalamus, Fimbribambusa, Gigantochloa, Maclurochloa, Melocalamus, Neomicrocalamus, Oreobambos, Oxytenanthera, Phuphanochloa, Pseudoxytenanthera, Soejatmia, Thyrsostachys, Vietnamosasa, Yersinochloa.
 * Subtribe Chusqueinae:
 * one genus: Chusquea.
 * Subtribe Dinochloinae:
 * 7 genera: Cyrtochloa, Dinochloa, Mullerochloa, Neololeba, Pinga, Parabambusa, Sphaerobambos.
 * Subtribe Greslaniinae:
 * one genus: Greslania.
 * Subtribe Guaduinae:
 * 5 genera: Apoclada, Eremocaulon, Guadua, Olmeca, Otatea.
 * Subtribe Hickeliinae:
 * 9 genera: Cathariostachys, Decaryochloa, Hickelia, Hitchcockella, Nastus, Perrierbambus, Sirochloa, Sokinochloa, Valiha.
 * Subtribe Holttumochloinae:
 * 3 genera: Holttumochloa, Kinabaluchloa, Nianhochloa.
 * Subtribe Melocanninae:
 * 9 genera: Annamocalamus, Cephalostachyum, Davidsea, Melocanna, Neohouzeaua, Ochlandra, Pseudostachyum, Schizostachyum, Stapletonia.
 * Subtribe Racemobambosinae:
 * 3 genera: Chloothamnus, Racemobambos, Widjajachloa.
 * Subtribe Temburongiinae:
 * one genus: Temburongia.
 * incertae sedis
 * 2 genera: Ruhooglandia, Temochloa.

31 genera: Acidosasa, Ampelocalamus, Arundinaria, Bashania, Bergbambos, Chimonobambusa, Chimonocalamus, Drepanostachyum, Fargesia, Ferrocalamus, Gaoligongshania, Gelidocalamus, Himalayacalamus, Indocalamus, Indosasa, Kuruna, Oldeania, Oligostachyum, Phyllostachys, Pleioblastus, Pseudosasa, Sarocalamus, Sasa, Sasaella, Sasamorpha, Semiarundinaria, Shibataea, Sinobambusa, Thamnocalamus, Vietnamocalamus, Yushania.

Distribution

Most bamboo species are native to warm and moist tropical and to warm temperate climates. Their range also extends to cool mountainous regions and highland cloud forests.

In the Asia-Pacific region, they occur across East Asia, from north to 50 °N latitude in Sakhalin, to south to northern Australia, and west to India and the Himalayas. China, Japan, Korea, India and Australia, all have several endemic populations. They also occur in small numbers in sub-Saharan Africa, confined to tropical areas, from southern Senegal in the north to southern Mozambique and Madagascar in the south. In the Americas, bamboo has a native range from 47 °S in southern Argentina and the beech forests of central Chile, through the South American tropical rainforests, to the Andes in Ecuador near 14000 ft, with a noticeable gap through the Atacama Desert.

Three species of bamboo, all in the genus Arundinaria, are also native through Central America and Mexico, northward into the Southeastern United States. Bamboo thickets called canebrakes once formed a dominant ecosystem in some parts of the Southeastern United States, but they are now considered critically endangered ecosystems. Canada and continental Europe are not known to have any native species of bamboo. Many species are also cultivated as garden plants outside of this range, including in Europe and areas of North America where no native wild bamboo exists.

Recently, some attempts have been made to grow bamboo on a commercial basis in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, especially in Rwanda. In the United States, several companies are growing, harvesting, and distributing species such as Phyllostachys nigra (Henon) and Phyllostachys edulis (Moso).

Ecology
The two general patterns for the growth of bamboo are "clumping", and "running", with short and long underground rhizomes, respectively. Clumping bamboo species tend to spread slowly, as the growth pattern of the rhizomes is to simply expand the root mass gradually, similar to ornamental grasses. Running bamboos need to be controlled during cultivation because of their potential for aggressive behavior. They spread mainly through their rhizomes, which can spread widely underground and send up new culms to break through the surface. Running bamboo species are highly variable in their tendency to spread; this is related to the species, soil and climate conditions. Some send out runners of several meters a year, while others stay in the same general area for long periods. If neglected, over time, they can cause problems by moving into adjacent areas.

Bamboos include some of the fastest-growing plants on Earth, with reported growth rates up to 910 mm in 24 hours. These depend on local soil and climatic conditions, as well as species, and a more typical growth rate for many commonly cultivated bamboos in temperate climates is in the range of 30 – per day during the growing period. Primarily growing in regions of warmer climates during the late Cretaceous period, vast fields existed in what is now Asia. Some of the largest timber bamboo grow over 30 m tall, and be as large as 250 – in diameter. The size range for mature bamboo is species-dependent, with the smallest bamboos reaching only several inches high at maturity. A typical height range covering many of the common bamboos grown in the United States is 4.5 - 12 m, depending on species. Anji County of China, known as the "Town of Bamboo", provides the optimal climate and soil conditions to grow, harvest, and process some of the most valued bamboo poles available worldwide.

Unlike all trees, individual bamboo culms emerge from the ground at their full diameter and grow to their full height in a single growing season of three to four months. During this time, each new shoot grows vertically into a culm with no branching out until the majority of the mature height is reached. Then, the branches extend from the nodes and leafing out occurs. In the next year, the pulpy wall of each culm slowly hardens. During the third year, the culm hardens further. The shoot is now a fully mature culm. Over the next 2–5 years (depending on species), fungus begins to form on the outside of the culm, which eventually penetrates and overcomes the culm. Around 5–8 years later (species- and climate-dependent), the fungal growths cause the culm to collapse and decay. This brief life means culms are ready for harvest and suitable for use in construction within about three to seven years. Individual bamboo culms do not get any taller or larger in diameter in subsequent years than they do in their first year, and they do not replace any growth lost from pruning or natural breakage. Bamboo has a wide range of hardiness depending on species and locale. Small or young specimens of an individual species produce small culms initially. As the clump and its rhizome system mature, taller and larger culms are produced each year until the plant approaches its particular species limits of height and diameter.

Many tropical bamboo species die at or near freezing temperatures, while some of the hardier temperate bamboos survive temperatures as low as -29 °C. Some of the hardiest bamboo species are grown in USDA plant hardiness zone 5, although they typically defoliate and may even lose all above-ground growth, yet the rhizomes survive and send up shoots again the next spring. In milder climates, such as USDA zone 7 and above, most bamboo remain fully leafed out and green year-round.

Mass flowering

Bamboos seldom and unpredictably flower and the frequency of flowering varies greatly from species to species. Once flowering takes place, a plant declines and often dies entirely. In fact, many species only flower at intervals as long as 65 or 120 years. These taxa exhibit mass flowering (or gregarious flowering), with all plants in a particular 'cohort' flowering over a several-year period. Any plant derived through clonal propagation from this cohort will also flower regardless of whether it has been planted in a different location. The longest mass flowering interval known is 120 years, and it is for the species Phyllostachys bambusoides (Sieb. & Zucc.). In this species, all plants of the same stock flower at the same time, regardless of differences in geographic locations or climatic conditions, and then the bamboo dies. The commercially important bamboo Guadua, or Cana brava (Guadua angustifolia) bloomed for the first time in recorded history in 1971, suggesting a blooming interval well in excess of 130 years. The lack of environmental impact on the time of flowering indicates the presence of some sort of "alarm clock" in each cell of the plant which signals the diversion of all energy to flower production and the cessation of vegetative growth. This mechanism, as well as the evolutionary cause behind it, is still largely a mystery.

Invasive species
Some bamboo species are acknowledged as having high potential for becoming invasive species. A study commissioned by International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation, found that invasive species typically are varieties that spread via rhizomes rather than by clumping, as most commercially viable woody bamboos do. In the United States, the National Invasive Species Information Center agency of the Department of Agriculture has Golden Bamboo (Phyllostachys aurea) listed as an invasive species.

Animal diet
Bamboo contains large amounts of protein and very low amounts of carbohydrates allowing this plant to be the source of food for many animals. Soft bamboo shoots, stems and leaves are the major food source of the giant panda of China, the red panda of Nepal, and the bamboo lemurs of Madagascar. The red panda can eat up to 9 lb a day which is also about the full body weight of the animal. With raw bamboo containing trace amounts of harmful cyanide with higher concentrations in bamboo shoots, the golden bamboo lemur ingests many times the quantity of the taxiphyllin-containing bamboo that would be lethal to a human.

Mountain gorillas of Central Africa also feed on bamboo, and have been documented consuming bamboo sap which was fermented and alcoholic; chimpanzees and elephants of the region also eat the stalks. The larvae of the bamboo borer (the moth Omphisa fuscidentalis) of Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Yunnan, China feed off the pulp of live bamboo. In turn, these caterpillars are considered a local delicacy. Bamboo is also used for livestock feed with research showing some bamboo varieties have higher protein content over other varieties of bamboo.

General
In Brazil, the Brazilian Center for Innovation and Sustainability - CEBIS, a non-profit organization, promotes the development of Brazil's bamboo production chain. Last year, it helped with the approval of law n~21,162 in the state of Paraná, which encourages Bamboo Culture aiming at the dissemination of its agricultural cultivation and the valorization of bamboo as an instrument for promoting the sustainable socioeconomic development of the State through its multiple functionalities. Bamboo cultivation neutralizes carbon emissions. Bamboo cultivation is cheap and in addition to adding value to its production chain, it is a sustainable crop that brings environmental, economic and social benefits. Its production can be used from construction to food. Recently, it was qualified and classified for the National Commission for Sustainable Development Objectives - CNDOS of the Presidency of the Republic of the federal government of Brazil.

Harvesting

Bamboo used for construction purposes must be harvested when the culms reach their greatest strength and when sugar levels in the sap are at their lowest, as high sugar content increases the ease and rate of pest infestation. As compared to forest trees, bamboo species grow fast. Bamboo plantations can be readily harvested for a shorter period than tree plantations.

Harvesting of bamboo is typically undertaken according to these cycles:
 * Lifecycle of the culm: As each individual culm goes through a five to seven-year lifecycle, they are ideally allowed to reach this level of maturity prior to full capacity harvesting. The clearing out or thinning of culms, particularly older decaying culms, helps to ensure adequate light and resources for new growth. Well-maintained clumps may have a productivity three to four times that of an unharvested wild clump. Consistent with the lifecycle described above, bamboo is harvested from two to three years through to five to seven years, depending on the species.
 * Annual cycle: Most all growth of new bamboo occurs during the wet season and disturbing the clump during this phase will potentially damage the upcoming crop, while harvesting immediately prior to the wet/growth season may also damage new shoots, therefore harvesting is best a few months prior to the start of the wet season. Also during this high-rainfall period, sap levels are at their highest, and then diminish towards the dry season.
 * Daily cycle: During the height of the day, photosynthesis is at its peak, producing the highest levels of sugar in sap, making this the least ideal time of day to harvest and many traditional practitioners believe the best time to harvest is at dawn or dusk on a waning moon.

Leaching
Leaching is the removal of sap after harvest. In many areas of the world, the sap levels in harvested bamboo are reduced either through leaching or post-harvest photosynthesis. For example:
 * Cut bamboo is raised clear of the ground and leaned against the rest of the clump for one to two weeks until leaves turn yellow to allow full consumption of sugars by the plant.
 * A similar method is undertaken, but with the base of the culm standing in fresh water, either in a large drum or stream to leach out sap.
 * Cut culms are immersed in a running stream and weighted down for three to four weeks.
 * Water is pumped through the freshly cut culms, forcing out the sap (this method is often used in conjunction with the injection of some form of treatment).

In the process of water leaching, the bamboo is dried slowly and evenly in the shade to avoid cracking in the outer skin of the bamboo, thereby reducing opportunities for pest infestation.

Durability of bamboo in construction is directly related to how well it is handled from the moment of planting through harvesting, transportation, storage, design, construction, and maintenance. Bamboo harvested at the correct time of year and then exposed to ground contact or rain will break down just as quickly as incorrectly harvested material.

Toxicity
Gardeners working with bamboo plants have occasionally reported allergic reactions varying from no effects during previous exposures, to immediate itchiness and rash developing into red welts after several hours where the skin had been in contact with the plant (contact allergy), and in some cases into swollen eyelids and breathing difficulties (dyspnoea). A skin prick test using bamboo extract was positive for the immunoglobulin E (IgE) in an available case study. The shoots (newly emerged culms) of bamboo contain the toxin taxiphyllin (a cyanogenic glycoside), which produces cyanide in the gut.

Culinary
The shoots of most species are edible either raw or cooked, with the tough sheath removed. Cooking removes the slight bitterness. The shoots are used in numerous Asian dishes and broths, and are available in supermarkets in various sliced forms, in both fresh and canned versions.

The bamboo shoot in its fermented state forms an important ingredient in cuisines across the Himalayas. In Assam, India, for example, it is called khorisa. In Nepal, a delicacy popular across ethnic boundaries consists of bamboo shoots fermented with turmeric and oil, and cooked with potatoes into a dish that usually accompanies rice ( (आलु तामा) in Nepali).

In Indonesia, they are sliced thin and then boiled with santan (thick coconut milk) and spices to make a dish called gulai rebung. Other recipes using bamboo shoots are sayur lodeh (mixed vegetables in coconut milk) and lun pia (sometimes written lumpia: fried wrapped bamboo shoots with vegetables). The shoots of some species contain toxins that need to be leached or boiled out before they can be eaten safely.

Pickled bamboo, used as a condiment, may also be made from the pith of the young shoots.

The sap of young stalks tapped during the rainy season may be fermented to make ulanzi (a sweet wine) or simply made into a soft drink. Bamboo leaves are also used as wrappers for steamed dumplings which usually contains glutinous rice and other ingredients, such as the zongzi from China.

Pickled bamboo shoots (तामा ) are cooked with black-eyed beans as a delicacy in Nepal. Many Nepalese restaurants around the world serve this dish as aloo bodi tama. Fresh bamboo shoots are sliced and pickled with mustard seeds and turmeric and kept in glass jar in direct sunlight for the best taste. It is used alongside many dried beans in cooking during winters. Baby shoots (Nepali: tusa) of a very different variety of bamboo (निगालो ) native to Nepal is cooked as a curry in hilly regions.

In Sambalpur, India, the tender shoots are grated into juliennes and fermented to prepare kardi. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word for bamboo shoot, karira. This fermented bamboo shoot is used in various culinary preparations, notably amil, a sour vegetable soup. It is also made into pancakes using rice flour as a binding agent. The shoots that have turned a little fibrous are fermented, dried, and ground to sand-sized particles to prepare a garnish known as hendua. It is also cooked with tender pumpkin leaves to make sag green leaves.

In Konkani cuisine, the tender shoots (kirlu) are grated and cooked with crushed jackfruit seeds to prepare kirla sukke.

In southern India and some regions of southwest China, the seeds of the dying bamboo plant are consumed as a grain known as "bamboo rice". The taste of cooked bamboo seeds is reported to be similar to wheat and the appearance similar to rice, but bamboo seeds have been found to have lower nutrient levels than both. The seeds can be pulverized into a flour with which to make cakes.

The Indian state of Sikkim has promoted bamboo water bottles to keep the state free from plastic bottles

The empty hollow in the stalks of larger bamboo is often used to cook food in many Asian cultures. Soups are boiled and rice is cooked in the hollows of fresh stalks of bamboo directly over a flame. Similarly, steamed tea is sometimes rammed into bamboo hollows to produce compressed forms of pu'er tea. Cooking food in bamboo is said to give the food a subtle but distinctive taste.

Writing surface
Bamboo was in widespread use in early China as a medium for written documents. The earliest surviving examples of such documents, written in ink on string-bound bundles of bamboo strips (or "slips"), date from the fifth century BC during the Warring States period. References in earlier texts surviving on other media indicate some precursor of these Warring States period bamboo slips was used as early as the late Shang period (from about 1250 BC).

Bamboo or wooden strips were used as the standard writing material during the early Han dynasty, and excavated examples have been found in abundance. Subsequently, paper began to displace bamboo and wooden strips from mainstream uses, and by the fourth century AD, bamboo slips had been largely abandoned as a medium for writing in China.

Bamboo fiber has been used to make paper in China since early times. A high-quality, handmade bamboo paper is still produced in small quantities. Coarse bamboo paper is still used to make spirit money in many Chinese communities.

Bamboo pulps are mainly produced in China, Myanmar, Thailand, and India, and are used in printing and writing papers. Several paper industries are surviving on bamboo forests. Ballarpur (Chandrapur, Maharstra) paper mills use bamboo for paper production. The most common bamboo species used for paper are Dendrocalamus asper and Bambusa blumeana. It is also possible to make dissolving pulp from bamboo. The average fiber length is similar to hardwoods, but the properties of bamboo pulp are closer to softwood pulps due to it having a very broad fiber length distribution. With the help of molecular tools, it is now possible to distinguish the superior fiber-yielding species/varieties even at juvenile stages of their growth, which can help in unadulterated merchandise production.

In Central India, there are regular bamboo working circles in forest areas of Maharashtra, Madhyapradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Most of the bamboo is harvested for papermaking. Bamboo is cut after three years of its germination. No cutting is done during the rainy season (July–September); broken and malformed culms are harvested first.

Writing pen
In olden times, people in India used hand-made pens (known as Kalam or boru (बोरू)) made from thin bamboo sticks (with diameters of 5–10 mm and lengths of 100–150 mm) by simply peeling them on one side and making a nib-like pattern at the end. The pen would then be dipped in ink for writing.

Textiles
Since the fibers of bamboo are very short (less than 3 mm), they are not usually transformed into yarn by a natural process. The usual process by which textiles labeled as being made of bamboo are produced uses only rayon made from the fibers with heavy employment of chemicals. To accomplish this, the fibers are broken down with chemicals and extruded through mechanical spinnerets; the chemicals include lye, carbon disulfide, and strong acids. Retailers have sold both end products as "bamboo fabric" to cash in on bamboo's current ecofriendly cachet. The Canadian Competition Bureau and the US Federal Trade Commission, as of mid-2009, are cracking down on the practice of labeling bamboo rayon as natural bamboo fabric. Under the guidelines of both agencies, these products must be labeled as rayon with the optional qualifier "from bamboo".

Construction
Bamboo, like true wood, is a natural building material with a high strength-to-weight ratio useful for structures. In its natural form, bamboo as a construction material is traditionally associated with the cultures of South Asia, East Asia, and the South Pacific, to some extent in Central and South America, and by extension in the aesthetic of Tiki culture.

In China and India, bamboo was used to hold up simple suspension bridges, either by making cables of split bamboo or twisting whole culms of sufficiently pliable bamboo together. One such bridge in the area of Qian-Xian is referenced in writings dating back to 960 AD and may have stood since as far back as the third century BC, due largely to continuous maintenance.

Bamboo has also long been used as scaffolding; the practice has been banned in China for buildings over six stories, but is still in continuous use for skyscrapers in Hong Kong.

In the Philippines, the nipa hut is a fairly typical example of the most basic sort of housing where bamboo is used; the walls are split and woven bamboo, and bamboo slats and poles may be used as its support.

In Japanese architecture, bamboo is used primarily as a supplemental or decorative element in buildings such as fencing, fountains, grates, and gutters, largely due to the ready abundance of quality timber.

Many ethnic groups in remote areas that have water access in Asia use bamboo that is 3–5 years old to make rafts. They use 8 to 12 poles, 6 – long, laid together side by side to a width of about 1 m. Once the poles are lined up together, they cut a hole crosswise through the poles at each end and use a small bamboo pole pushed through that hole like a screw to hold all the long bamboo poles together. Floating houses use whole bamboo stalks tied together in a big bunch to support the house floating in the water.

Fishing and aquaculture
Due to its flexibility, bamboo is also used to make fishing rods. The split cane rod is especially prized for fly fishing.

Firecrackers
Bamboo has been traditionally used in Malaysia as a firecracker called a meriam buluh or bamboo cannon. Four-foot-long sections of bamboo are cut, and a mixture of water and calcium carbide are introduced. The resulting acetylene gas is ignited with a stick, producing a loud bang.

Weapons
Bamboo has often been used to construct weapons and is still incorporated in several Asian martial arts.
 * A bamboo staff, sometimes with one end sharpened, is used in the Tamil martial art of silambam, a word derived from a term meaning "hill bamboo".
 * Staves used in the Indian martial art of gatka are commonly made from bamboo, a material favoured for its light weight.
 * A bamboo sword called a shinai is used in the Japanese martial art of kendo.
 * Bamboo is used for crafting the bows, called yumi, and arrows used in the Japanese martial art kyūdō.
 * The first gunpowder-based weapons, such as the fire lance, were made of bamboo.
 * The Chinese Langxian, or "Wolf Brush Spear". Some variants of this weapon were just long bamboo poles with a spearhead that still had layers of leaves attached. The Langxian was mainly used as a defensive weapon in Qi Jiguang's Mandarin Duck Formation.
 * Sharpened bamboo javelins weighted with sand known as bagakay were used as disposable missile weapons in both land and naval warfare in the Philippines. They were thrown in groups at a time at enemy ships or massed enemy formations. Non-disposable finely-crafted throwing spears made from bamboo weighted with sand known as sugob were also used. Sugob were mainly used for close-quarters combat and were only thrown when they could be retrieved.
 * Metal-tipped blowgun-spear called sumpit (or sumpitan), used by various ethnic groups in the islands of the Philippines, Borneo, and Sulawesi, were generally made from hollowed bamboo. They used thick short darts dipped in the concentrated sap of Antiaris toxicaria which could cause lethal cardiac arrest.
 * The simple sharpened bamboo spear, known as bambu runcing (literally 'sharp bamboo' or 'pointed bamboo'), is a legendary symbol of Indonesian revolutionary spirit, embodying the will of the Indonesian people, who were often ill-equipped, to fight for independence against the Dutch occupation who held air- and naval supremacy along with Commonwealth aid.
 * Punji Sticks are stakes of sharpened bamboo typically used in area denial and booby traps. Punji sticks were widely used in the Vietnam War by the Viet Cong.

Desalination
Bamboo can be used in water desalination. A bamboo filter is used to remove the salt from seawater.

Indicator of climate change
The Song dynasty (960–1279 AD) Chinese scientist and polymath Shen Kuo (1031–1095) used the evidence of underground petrified bamboo found in the dry northern climate of Yan'an, Shanbei region, Shaanxi province to support his geological theory of gradual climate change.

Kitchenware and other usage
Bamboo is frequently used for cooking utensils within many cultures, and is used in the manufacture of chopsticks and bamboo steamers. In modern times, some see bamboo tools as an eco-friendly alternative to other manufactured utensils. Bamboo is also used to make eating utensils such as chopsticks, trays, and tea scoops. Several manufacturers offer bamboo bicycles, surfboards, snowboards, and skateboards.

Bamboo has traditionally been used to make a wide range of everyday utensils and cutting boards, particularly in Japan, where archaeological excavations have uncovered bamboo baskets dating to the Late Jōmon period (2000–1000 BC). Bamboo also has a long history of use in Asian furniture. Chinese bamboo furniture is a distinct style based on a millennia-long tradition, and bamboo is also used for floors due to its high hardness.

Additionally, bamboo is used to create bracelets, earrings, necklaces, and other jewelry.

In culture
Several Asian cultures, including that of the Andaman Islands, believe humanity emerged from a bamboo stem.

China
Bamboo's long life makes it a Chinese symbol of uprightness and an Indian symbol of friendship. The rarity of its blossoming has led to the flowers' being regarded as a sign of impending famine. This may be due to rats feeding upon the profusion of flowers, then multiplying and destroying a large part of the local food supply. The most recent flowering began in May 2006 (see Mautam). Various bamboo species bloom in this manner about every 28–60 years.

In Chinese culture, the bamboo, plum blossom, orchid, and chrysanthemum (often known as méi lán zhú jú 梅蘭竹菊 in Chinese) are collectively referred to as the Four Gentlemen. These four plants also represent the four seasons and, in Confucian ideology, four aspects of the junzi ("prince" or "noble one"). The pine (sōng 松), the bamboo (zhú 竹), and the plum blossom (méi 梅) are also admired for their perseverance under harsh conditions, and are together known as the "Three Friends of Winter" in Chinese culture.

Attributions of character
Bamboo, one of the "Four Gentlemen" (bamboo, orchid, plum blossom and chrysanthemum), plays such an important role in traditional Chinese culture that it is even regarded as a behavior model of the gentleman. As bamboo has features such as uprightness, tenacity, and modesty, people endow bamboo with integrity, elegance, and plainness, though it is not physically strong. Countless poems praising bamboo written by ancient Chinese poets are actually metaphorically about people who exhibited these characteristics. An ancient poet, Bai Juyi (772–846), thought that to be a gentleman, a man does not need to be physically strong, but he must be mentally strong, upright, and perseverant. Just as a bamboo is hollow-hearted, he should open his heart to accept anything of benefit and never have arrogance or prejudice.

Bamboo is not only a symbol of a gentleman, but also plays an important role in Buddhism, which was introduced into China in the first century. As canons of Buddhism forbids cruelty to animals, flesh and egg were not allowed in the diet. The tender bamboo shoot (sǔn 筍 in Chinese) thus became a nutritious alternative. Preparation methods developed over thousands of years have come to be incorporated into Asian cuisines, especially for monks. A Buddhist monk, Zan Ning, wrote a manual of the bamboo shoot called Sǔn Pǔ (筍譜) offering descriptions and recipes for many kinds of bamboo shoots. Bamboo shoot has always been a traditional dish on the Chinese dinner table, especially in southern China. In ancient times, those who could afford a big house with a yard would plant bamboo in their garden.

Mythology
In a Chinese legend, the Emperor Yao gave two of his daughters to the future Emperor Shun as a test for his potential to rule. Shun passed the test of being able to run his household with the two emperor's daughters as wives, and thus Yao made Shun his successor, bypassing his unworthy son. After Shun's death, the tears of his two bereaved wives fell upon the bamboos growing there explains the origin of spotted bamboo. The two women later became goddesses Xiangshuishen after drowning themselves in the Xiang River.

Japan

Bamboo is a symbol of prosperity in Japan, and are used to make New Year's decorations called kadomatsu. Bamboo forests sometimes surround Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples as part of a sacred barrier against evil. In the folktale Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Taketori Monogatari), princess Kaguya emerges from a shining bamboo section.

In Japan, the Chinese "Three Friends of Winter" (kansai sanyū) concept is traditionally used as a ranking system, where pine (松 matsu) is the first rank, bamboo (竹 take) is the second rank, and plum (梅 ume) is the third rank. This system is used in many traditional arts like with sushi sets, embroidering kimono or tiers of accommodations at traditional ryōkan taverns.

Malaysia
In Malaysia, a similar story includes a man who dreams of a beautiful woman while sleeping under a bamboo plant; he wakes up and breaks the bamboo stem, discovering the woman inside.

Philippines
In Philippine mythology, one of the more famous creation accounts tells of the first man Malakás ("Strong") and the first woman Maganda ("Beautiful") each emerging from one half of a split bamboo stem on an island formed after the battle between Sky and Ocean.

Attributions of character
Bamboo plays an important part of the culture of Vietnam. Bamboo symbolizes the spirit of Vovinam (a Vietnamese martial arts): cương nhu phối triển (coordination between hard and soft (martial arts)). Bamboo also symbolizes the Vietnamese hometown and Vietnamese soul: the gentlemanlike, straightforwardness, hard working, optimism, unity, and adaptability. A Vietnamese proverb says, "Tre già, măng mọc" (When the bamboo is old, the bamboo sprouts appear), the meaning being Vietnam will never be annihilated; if the previous generation dies, the children take their place. Therefore, the Vietnam nation and Vietnamese value will be maintained and developed eternally. Traditional Vietnamese villages are surrounded by thick bamboo hedges (lũy tre).

During Ngô Đình Diệm's presidency, bamboo was the national symbol of South Vietnam, it was featured on the national coat of arms, presidential standard, and South Vietnamese đồng coins at the time.

Mythology
A bamboo cane is also the weapon of Vietnamese legendary hero, Thánh Gióng, who had grown up immediately and magically since the age of three because of his wish to liberate his land from Ân invaders. The ancient Vietnamese legend Cây tre trăm đốt (The Hundred-knot Bamboo Tree) tells of a poor, young farmer who fell in love with his landlord's beautiful daughter. The farmer asked the landlord for his daughter's hand in marriage, but the proud landlord would not allow her to be bound in marriage to a poor farmer. The landlord decided to foil the marriage with an impossible deal; the farmer must bring him a "bamboo tree of 100 nodes". But Gautama Buddha (Bụt) appeared to the farmer and told him that such a tree could be made from 100 nodes from several different trees. Bụt gave to him four magic words to attach the many nodes of bamboo: Khắc nhập, khắc xuất, which means "joined together immediately, fell apart immediately". The triumphant farmer returned to the landlord and demanded his daughter. Curious to see such a long bamboo, the landlord was magically joined to the bamboo when he touched it, as the young farmer said the first two magic words. The story ends with the happy marriage of the farmer and the landlord's daughter after the landlord agreed to the marriage and asked to be separated from the bamboo.

Tanzania
Tanzania possesses a large diversity of bamboo species.

Bozo
The Bozo ethnic group of West Africa take their name from the Bambara phrase bo-so, which means "bamboo house".

Saint Lucia
Bamboo is also the national plant of St. Lucia.

Hawaiian
Hawaiian bamboo ('ohe) is a kinolau or body form of the Polynesian creator god Kāne.

North America
Arundinaria bamboos, known as giant cane or river cane, are a central part of the material cultures of Southeastern Native American nations, so much so that they have been called "the plastic of the Southeastern Indians." Among the Cherokee, river cane has been used to make waterproof baskets, mats, fishing poles, flutes, blowguns, arrows, and to build houses, among other uses; the seed and young shoots are also edible. Traditional Cherokee double-woven baskets, crafted from river cane that has been split and dyed in various colors, are sometimes considered among the finest in the world. Since the North American bamboos are now rare, with 98% of their original extent eliminated, the Cherokee have initiated an effort to restore it.

title: Bamboo


text:
R. J. Mitchell

Reginald Joseph Mitchell (20 May 1895 – 11 June 1937) was a British aircraft designer who worked for the Southampton aviation company Supermarine from 1916 until 1936. He is best known for designing racing seaplanes such as the Supermarine S.6B, and for leading the team that designed the Supermarine Spitfire.

Born in Butt Lane, Staffordshire, Mitchell attended Hanley High School and afterwards worked as an apprentice at a locomotive engineering works, whilst also studying engineering and mathematics at night. In 1917 he moved to Southampton to join Supermarine. He was appointed Chief Engineer in 1920 and Technical Director in 1927. Between 1920 and 1936 he designed 24 aircraft, which included flying boats and racing seaplanes, light aircraft, fighters, and bombers. From 1925 to 1929 he worked on a series of racing seaplanes, built by Supermarine to compete in the Schneider Trophy competition, the final entry in the series being the Supermarine S.6B. The S.6B won the trophy in 1931. Mitchell was authorised by Supermarine to proceed with a new design, the Type 300, which went on to become the Spitfire.

In 1933, Mitchell underwent surgery to treat rectal cancer. He continued to work and earned his pilot's licence in 1934, but in early 1937, he was forced by a recurrence of the cancer to give up work. After his death that year, he was succeeded as chief designer at Supermarine by Joseph Smith.

Family and education
Reginald Joseph Mitchell was born on 20 May 1895 at 115 Congleton Road, Butt Lane, in Staffordshire, England. He was the second eldest of five children, and the eldest of three brothers. His father Herbert Mitchell was a Yorkshireman who became headmaster of three Staffordshire schools in the Stoke-on-Trent area, before he retired from teaching. He then helped to establish a printing business, Wood, Mitchell and C. Ltd, in Hanley. Herbert Mitchell's wife Eliza Jane Brain was the daughter of a cooper. When Reginald was a child, the family lived in Normacot, now a suburb of Stoke-on-Trent.

Reginald (known to his family as "Reg") attended Queensberry Road Higher Elementary School from the age of eight, before moving on to Hanley High School. There he developed an interest in making and flying model aircraft. In 1911, after leaving school at the age of 16, he worked as an apprentice for Kerr Stuart & Co. of Fenton, a railway engineering works. After completing his apprenticeship he worked in the drawing office at Kerr Stuart, whilst studying engineering and mathematics at a local technical college, where he displayed a talent for mathematics.

After leaving Kerr Stuart in 1916, Mitchell worked for a period as a part-time teacher. He applied to join the armed forces on two occasions, but was on each occasion rejected because of his training as an engineer.

Early career and promotion
In 1916, Mitchell joined the Supermarine Aviation Works at Southampton, possibly for a probationary period. Since its formation in 1912, the company had specialised in building flying boats, producing its first aircraft, the Pemberton-Billing P.B.1, in 1914. During the First World War, Supermarine was taken over by the British Government, and during this period the company produced the first British single-seat flying boat fighter, the Supermarine Baby.

On joining the company, Mitchell was given the opportunity to develop skills in a number of roles, so as to gain experience of the aircraft industry. His basic engineering training would have helped him to become established, as he adjusted from working with locomotives to understanding aeroplanes. A competent mathematician, Mitchell's ability to think creatively and use his intuition when looking at a design was soon recognised. The earliest record of his work at Supermarine is as a draughtsman, and dates from 1916. By 1917, he had become assistant to the company's owner and designer, Hubert Scott-Paine. He is likely to have played a role in the development of the Baby when in 1919 it was adapted for racing for the Schneider Trophy, and was renamed the Supermarine Sea Lion.

In 1918, Mitchell was promoted to become the works manager's assistant. When Supermarine's chief designer William Hargreaves left the company in the summer of 1919, he was replaced by Mitchell, who took up his new duties later that year, leading a team that had in 1918 consisted of six draughtsmen and a secretary. Following his promotion, the 19-year-old returned to Staffordshire and married his fiancée Florence Dayson, an infant school headmistress, who was 11 years his senior. By 1921 he had become Supermarine's chief engineer. Following the departure of Scott-Paine in November 1923, Mitchell was able to negotiate a new contract, which led to greater influence in the company. The 10-year contract was a sign of his indispensability to Supermarine.

It is unclear how Mitchell came about to become so quickly promoted when he was still a young man, as few documents relating to his early career have survived. However, his early promotion was not unusual at that time; other men of Mitchell's age held similar positions in other aircraft companies. Decades after his death, when approached for information about him, those surviving Supermarine colleagues who had known Mitchell were reluctant to recall their personal memories.

1920s civilian and military aircraft designs
Between 1920 and 1936, Mitchell designed 24 aeroplanes. His early projects often involved adapting Supermarine's earlier aircraft; in June 1920 the Air Ministry announced a civilian aircraft competition, and Supermarine's entry for the competition was the Commercial Amphibian, an adaptation by Mitchell of the company's Supermarine Channel. The Amphibian finished second, but was judged the best of the three entrants in terms of design and reliability. His redesigned Supermarine Baby, renamed the Supermarine Sea King, was exhibited the Olympia International Aero Exhibition in 1920, the first international exhibition to be held in the UK since the end of World War I. In 1922, the Chilean government bought a Channel, modified by Mitchell. That year he redesigned a version of the Commercial Amphibian, the Supermarine Sea Eagle.

Mitchell produced new designs for aircraft early in his career; he designed the Supermarine Seal II in 1920, and the triplane Flying Boat Torpedo Carrier the following year. The historian Ralph Pegram notes that the unbuilt Torpedo Carrier reveals the "first true indication of Mitchell's thoughts as a designer". In 1921 work began on the Supermarine Swan, a commercial carrier, but only the prototype was built. The Supermarine Seagull II—later used as the basis for future designs—began to receive production orders in 1922. The Amphibian Service Bomber was designed by Mitchell in 1924. Renamed the Supermarine Scarab, 12 aircraft were bought by the Spanish Navy; they remained in service until 1928.

Supermarine's first design for a land aircraft, the Supermarine Sparrow, competed unsuccessfully during the Air Ministry's Light Air Competition of 1924, and subsequently failed to gain orders. A variant, the Supermarine Sparrow II, was used by Mitchell to test his different airfoil designs.

Work on the Supermarine Southampton started in March 1924. It flew for the first time the following March, and entered service in July 1925. By the end of 1925, Mitchell's team had designed the Southampton II—the Southampton but with a metal hull. The plane, more powerful, lighter, and more durable than its predecessor, flew for the first time in 1927. A paper by Mitchell on the use of the Southampton appeared in the March 1926 edition of Flight magazine. In 1928, a flight of Supermarine Southampton IIs left Felixstowe on 14 October for Australia, and returned to the UK on 11 December. The expedition provided Mitchell's design team with valuable information about operating aircraft in the tropics. The Southampton was one of the most successful flying boats of the between-war period, and established Britain as a leading developer of maritime aircraft. It was used to equip six RAF squadrons up to 1936.

In 1926, the Air Ministry issued specification 21/26 as a way to address the need for new fighter aircraft, and Mitchell's design team, which he had re-organised that year into separate drawing and technical offices, responded with a number of designs, including the Single Seat Fighter. By this time, Supermarine was moving away from wooden amphibious aircraft. The company concentrated instead on designing larger metal flying boats, such as the 3-Engined Biplane Flying Boat, designed in November 1927. The Supermarine Air Yacht, and a new design, the Southampton X (not related to other planes with the same name), was ordered in June 1928. Mitchell dispensed with the complicated curved surfaces for the wings and the hulls of the Air Yacht and the Southampton X, and as a result these aircraft appeared "boxy".

Specification R.6/28, issued in 1928, resulted in a series of designs by Supermarine for a six-engined flying boat, with one of designs being a radical departure for Mitchell—it had a newly-designed 140 ft cantilever wing with a large surface area and cross section. The aircraft was never built. From 1929 to 1931, he continued to design aircraft based on the Southampton and the Southampton X, such as the Supermarine Sea Hawk and its variant the Sea Hawk II, the Type 179, the Nanok and the Seamew.

New designs, production orders and patents (1929–1934)
In February 1929, Mitchell submitted patent GB 329411 A, "Improvements in the Cooling System of Engines for Automotive Vehicles", a condenser to be placed within the wings of an aircraft. The Air Ministry rejected Supermarine's proposal for such a wing-cooled aircraft, but in May 1929 a new specification allowed Mitchell to use his ideas again. A similar patent was submitted in 1931. The condenser was used in the Type 232, produced in April 1934, which was never put up for tender.

During the early 1930s, many of Mitchell's ideas never went past the early design stages. Attempts by the company to sell a 5-engined flying boat failed when a contract was cancelled in early 1932, leading to job losses and wage cuts at Supermarine. However in 1933 the company's fortunes were revived when it received an order for 12 Scarpas (previously the Southampton IV) under the specification R.19/33, the first contract for a new design by Mitchell since 1924. This order was followed by orders for the Supermarine Stranraer, which went into production in 1937.

After the first Seagull V flew in June 1933, the Royal Australian Air Force showed an interest, and 24 planes were ordered. The same year the RAF made an initial order of 12 aircraft, now renamed the Supermarine Walrus. Following the issuance of Air Ministry specification 5/36, Mitchell worked on a redesigned version of the Walrus, which was given the name Sea Otter. Work on the Sea Otter was completed after Mitchell's death in 1937, and it first flew in September 1938.

In October 1934, Mitchell published an article in the Daily Mirror, 'What is happening now in Air Transport?', in which he predicted that air transport would prove to be the safest form of transport.

Schneider trophy races (1922–1931)
Mitchell and his design team worked on a series of racing seaplanes, built to compete in the Schneider Trophy competition. His team included Alan Clifton (later head of the Technical Office), Arthur Shirvall, and Joseph Smith. These men were fundamental to Supermarine's success, as was the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), which provided invaluable support, guidance and scientific expertise in the form of detailed reports. The competition helped to place Mitchell at the forefront of aviation design.

Sea Lion series (early 1920s)
Mitchell developed the Supermarine Sea King II to become the Sea Lion II, which competed for the 1922 Schneider Trophy in Naples. The Sea Lion II won the race, flying at an average speed of 145.7 mph.

There was not enough time for Supermarine to design a new flying boat for the 1923 competition, so the Sea Lion II was borrowed back from the Air Ministry to allow Mitchell to adapt it. He increased its maximum speed by 10 knots, achieved with the assistance of D. Napier & Son, who supplied the 525 hp Lion III engine. To reduce the effects of drag forces, Mitchell reduced the wingspan from 32 to 28 ft, modified the struts, floats and hull, and changed the way the engines were fitted.

For the 1923 contest, two of the three British entrants were irreparably damaged before the race, leaving the Sea Lion III to compete alone. The United States team, flying Curtiss seaplanes, dominated the competition, with the winning pilot, David Rittenhouse, managing to reach a top speed of 177.27 mph.

Supermarine S.4 (1925)
Even whilst the Sea Lion II was being modified at the Woolston works, Mitchell was working on a new plane, as Supermarine knew the American monoplane was the best design then available. The Supermarine S.4—the name was designated by Mitchell, with "S" standing for Schneider—was a joint Napier/Supermarine venture. The Supermarine team was backed by the Air Ministry, and had greater freedom than was given by the US government to their designers. The S.4 was described after Mitchell's death as "his first outstanding success". He used the practical experience gained when he designed its successor, the Supermarine S.5.

Mitchell was fully aware of the need to reduce drag to increase speed. His new design for was a mid-wing, cantilever floatplane. It was comparable to a French monoplane, the Bernard SIMB V.2, which broken the flight airspeed record in December 1924. The S.4 lacked the newly-designed surface radiators, at that time still unavailable, but it was aerodynamic and aesthetically pleasing. Trial speeds reached 226.742 mph and created a sensation in the press.

The S.4 crashed before the 1925 race, for reasons that were never clearly established. On the day of the navigation trials it stalled before falling flat into the sea from 100 ft. When the pilot Henri Biard was rescued by a launch, Mitchell, who was on board the rescue launch, jokingly asked the injured man: "Is the water warm?"

1926 and 1927 competitions
The Air Ministry, the Society of British Aircraft Constructors and the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) decided against challenging for the Schneider Trophy in 1926, but Mitchell was able to confirm that Supermarine would be ready for the race. His work at the NPL started in November that year. From wind tunnel tests at the NPL he learned that the S.4's radiators had created a third of the aircraft's total drag, and without this it would have been the most streamlined aircraft in the world. British aircraft companies intended to produce entries for the 1926 race, but the nature of the specifications issued by the Air Ministry meant that no aircraft could be completed and tested in time to be entered.

Two Supermarine S.5 seaplanes were entered for the 1927 contest, which was held in Venice. Mitchell understood that a monoplane on twin floats produced lower drag than any other aircraft type of its day, and was convinced by wind tunnel tests at the NPL that the cantilever wing design was too heavy and should be abandoned. The NPL had demonstrated that flat-surfaced skin radiators reduced drag better than the corrugated variety preferred by American designers, so Mitchell used them to improve the S.5. He reduced the fuselage cross section area so that it was 35 per cent less than the area of the S.4—and complained about the RAF's pilots being too large to fit into the resulting S.5's cockpit. The fuselage skin thickness was decreased by using duralumin.

Witnessed by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, along with a huge crowd gathered on the Venice Lido, the two Supermarine S.5s were the only seaplanes to finish the race, coming first and second. The third British entrant, a Gloster IV, along with the three Italian competitors flying Macchi M.52s, were forced to drop out of the race.

Mitchell had been elected to the RAeS in 1918. In 1927 he was awarded the society's Silver Medal. At the end of the year, he became the Technical Director at Supermarine. When the company was taken over by Vickers Ltd in 1928, he remained as Supermarine's chief designer—one of the conditions of the takeover was that he stay as a designer for the next five years.

Supermarine S.6 (1929)
Interest in the competition waned after the 1927 race. There was no competition the following year, as the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale was persuaded by the Royal Aero Club to hold races every two years in the future.

Mitchell was among those who could see a more powerful engine than the Napier Lion was required for any aircraft that competed in future contests. The Air Ministry invited Rolls-Royce Ltd to design a new engine specifically for Supermarine's new seaplane, now designated the S.6. Rolls-Royce, under pressure to produce an engine in time and that matched S.6's streamlined shape, adopted the partially-developed 825 hp Buzzard. Mitchell in turn had to amend some of his design to accommodate the increase in total weight caused by introducing a larger engine, for instance by repositioning the forward float struts, and redesigning the engine cowling. The Air Ministry ordered two S.6 seaplanes, both of which were built by August 1929. Modifications to the seaplanes were made by Mitchell so the engines could be used at maximum power, as issues were discovered: the radiators were found to be inadequate; high engine torque made the S.6 move in a circle; and the centre of gravity was incorrectly positioned.

The 1929 race at Calshot was won by Supermarine with the S.6 attaining an average speed of 528.89 km/h. Three of the four new aircraft were entered by the UK. The older Italian Macchi M.52R came second and Supermarine's backup, an S.5, took third place.

Supermarine S.6B (1931)
Britain's final entry in the series, the Supermarine S.6B, marked the culmination of Mitchell's quest to "perfect the design of the racing seaplane". It was sponsored by a wealthy philanthropist, Lady Houston, who donated after the British Government decided not to enter an RAF team for the 1931 contest.

Mitchell opted to design an improved version of the S.6, whilst making as few changes as possible. The improvements that were made included a more powerful engine, and provision was made for such effects as the increase in engine-produced heat and extra torque, and the greater quantities of cooling oil and fuel required. The S.6B was a larger seaplane than the S.6, and had to be given a more efficient cooling system, and a stronger frame.

The S.6B competed the course successfully, and won the 1931 race. As the Schneider Trophy rules included the stipulation that the contest would end when any one country managed to win the trophy three times in five years, the S.6B's victory won the contest outright for Britain. The aircraft went on to break the world air speed record when it reached a speed of 407.5 mph that year. Mitchell was awarded the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) on 29 December 1931 for services in connection with the Schneider Trophy contest.

Type 224
In 1930, specification F7/30 was issued for a fighter aircraft able to be used by both day and night squadrons. Mitchell's proposed design, the Type 224, was one of three monoplane designs made into prototypes for the Air Ministry. The final design incorporated an open cockpit, four Vickers machine guns, and a 660 hp Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine, along with a fixed undercarriage. Also included was an inverted gull wing, needed due to the demands of the engine's cooling system. The wing lacked flaps, a requirement for the aircraft to land at safe speeds.

Unofficially named the Spitfire, the Type 224 first flew on February 1934. The aircraft looked clumsy, and was inefficient, in part because the cooling system failed to prevent the engine from overheating. The RAF decided that the Type 224's performance was unsatisfactory, and selected the Gloster Gladiator in preference.

Supermarine Spitfire
Whilst the Type 224 was still being built in 1933, Mitchell was proceeding with the design of the Type 300. This was to become his masterpiece, the Supermarine Spitfire. He cleaned up the design of the Type 224, using the same engine but incorporating a shorter wing and a retractable undercarriage. The Air Ministry rejected Mitchell's design, but he modified it, for instance by making the wing thinner and shorter, by including the newly-designed Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, and by making use of an innovative new cooling system—the latter being an example of his willingness to accept ideas from other people.

For a short period, design work continued using private funding, but in December 1934 the Air Ministry contracted Supermarine to construct a prototype that was based on Mitchell's design. Mitchell objected to the Air Ministry's insistence that the Spitfire be modified to have a tail wheel. At the time he was not told that, in preparation for a future war, the government had decided to build hard surface runways for the RAF, a decision that meant the modification to the Spitfire was necessary.

The prototype, given the serial K5054, first flew on 6 March 1936, at Eastleigh, Hampshire. Mitchell witnessed the flight. Despite being ill, he travelled to Eastleigh during the flight tests for K5054. In June 1936, before the prototype had completed being trialled, the Air Ministry placed an order for 310 Spitfires.

Many of the technical advances in the Spitfire were made by people other than Mitchell: the thin elliptical wings were designed by the Canadian aerodynamicist Beverley Shenstone, and the Spitfire shared similarities with the Heinkel He 70 Blitz. The under-wing radiators had been designed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment, and monocoque construction had been first developed in the United States. Mitchell's achievement lay in the merger of these different influences into a single design, originating from his "unparalleled expertise in high-speed flight... and a brilliant practical engineering ability, exemplified in this instance by the incorporation of vital lessons learned from Supermarine's unsuccessful type 224 fighter". The quality of the design enabled the Spitfire to be continually improved throughout World War II.

Illness and final years
In 1933, Mitchell underwent a permanent colostomy to treat rectal cancer, which left him permanently disabled. Despite this, he continued to work on the Spitfire and a four-engined bomber, the Type 317. Unusually for an aircraft designer in those days, he took flying lessons. He obtained his pilot's licence and made his first solo flight in July 1934.

In 1936 Mitchell was diagnosed again with cancer, and early the following year was forced by his illness to give up work. In his absence, his assistant Harold Payn led the design team at Supermarine. Mitchell flew to Vienna for specialist treatment, and remained there for a month, but returned home after the treatment proved to be ineffective. He died at home in Highfield, Southampton, on 11 June 1937 at the age of 42.

The quality of the flying boats designed by Mitchell for the RAF established him as the foremost aircraft designer in Britain. His obituary published in The Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1937 described him as "brilliant" and "one of the leading designers in the world". The Society paid tribute to their colleague, describing him as being "a quiet, subtle, not obvious genius" who had "an intuitive capacity for grasping the essentials, getting to the point and staying there". Smith, who became Chief Designer at Supermarine after Mitchell's death, said of him that "He was an inveterate drawer on drawings, particularly general arrangements,... [which were] usually accepted when the thing was redrawn."

Posthumous recognition
Mitchell's career was dramatised in the British 1942 film The First of the Few. He was portrayed by Leslie Howard, who also produced and directed the film.

The Mitchell Memorial Youth Theatre, now known as Mitchell Arts Centre, was opened in Stoke-on-Trent in 1957 after was raised by public subscription. Butt Lane Junior School, was renamed as the Reginald Mitchell County Primary School in 1959, and Hanley High School was renamed Mitchell High School in 1989. The R J Mitchell Primary School at Hornchurch, originally named the Mitchell Junior School when it opened on 2 December 1968, is also named in his honour. Supermarine Spitfires piloted by Commonwealth and European airmen flew from RAF Hornchurch.

In 1986, Mitchell was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. The American philanthropist Sidney Frank unveiled a statue of Mitchell at the Science Museum, London, in 2005. The slate drawing board's surface depicts the drawing of the prototype Spitfire from June 1936. The stone sculpture was created by Stephen Kettle and given to the museum by the Sidney E. Frank Foundation.

There are plaques dedicated to Mitchell at his Southampton home, and his birthplace in Butt Lane. Papers relating to his work at Supermarine are preserved at the archives of the Royal Air Force Museum London. A bronze statue of Mitchell was unveiled in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, on 21 May 1995. The statue, by Colin Melbourne, was commissioned by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, and stands outside The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. The statue depicts Mitchell wearing a suit, holding a pen in his right hand and a book in his left.

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, is home to a Mark XVI Spitfire (RW388), which was donated to Stoke-on-Trent in 1972 by the RAF, to honour the city's connection to Reginald Mitchell.

Southampton City Art Gallery holds an oil painting of Mitchell, painted in 1942 by Frank Ernest Beresford.

Personality
Mitchell was by nature a reserved and modest man. He was a reticent public speaker who disliked presenting papers. According to one member of his department, "he said nothing unless there was something worth saying". He avoided publicity, and was not widely known to the general public until after his death.

According to his son Gordon, Mitchell was resentful of authority being imposed on him or of the routines of the workplace, and was short-tempered and "a difficult man to live with sometimes". Often given full scope at Supermarine, he was a strict taskmaster who nevertheless struggled with the level of organisation needed for a company such as Supermarine. When the engineer Barnes Wallis was employed to improve the efficiency of Mitchell's department in 1930, Wallis had to be recalled after their personalities clashed. The ODNB describes Mitchell as being highly gifted and intelligent, but someone who was "often stern and irascible towards those less gifted than himself". He was devoted to his staff at Supermarine, to whom he showed kindness and humanity, and they in turn repaid him with loyalty and affection.

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title: R. J. Mitchell