原来竹子是棵“草” Bamboo is Actually a Type of Grass 원래 대나무는 ‘풀’이다 “宁可食无肉，不可居无竹”“咬定青山不放松，立根原在破岩中”……从古至今，文人墨客爱竹咏竹者众多。但是，这么修长挺拔、虚心有节又可成林的竹子，其实本质上是棵“草”! 人们通常将草本植物称作“草”，而将木本植物称为“树”。竹子是禾本科竹亚科植物，从分类学角度来说，竹子与水稻、小麦、玉米、高粱等重要的草本粮食作物都是“亲戚”，属于草本植物，同属禾本科。 区分一种植物是草本还是木本，主要看维管束是否有形成层。 Throughout history, many scholars and poets have celebrated bamboo. “One can eat a meal without meat, but cannot live without bamboo” and “Upright stands the bamboo amid green mountains steep; Its toothlike root in broken rock is planted deep.” Despite its straight and unbranched nature, bamboo is a species of grass. People usually refer to herbaceous plants as “grass” and woody plants as “tree”. Bamboo belongs to the Bambusoideae subfamily in the Poaceae family, and from a taxonomic perspective, it is related to important herbaceous field crops such as rice, wheat, corn, and sorghum. Bamboo is classified as an herbaceous plant and belongs to the grass family Poaceae. The distinction between herbaceous and woody plants lies in whether their vascular bundles contain a cambium layer. ‘살이 없는 것을 먹을지 언정 대나무가 없는 곳에 살면 안 된다’, ‘청산을 물고 뿌리를 세우는 것은 원래 파암 속에 있었다’.......예로부터 문인들은 대나무를 사랑하고 대나무를 노래하는 사람이 많았다. 그러나 이렇게 길고 곧으며 겸허하고 절도 있고 숲을 이룰 수 있는 대나무는 사실 본질적으로 ‘풀’이다! 사람들은 보통 초본식물을 ‘초’라고 하고, 목본식물을 ‘수’라고 한다. 대나무는 화본과 죽아과식물로서 분류학의 각도에서 볼 때 대나무와 벼, 밀, 옥수수, 수수 등 중요한 초본양곡작물은 모두 ‘친척’으로서 초본식물에 속하며 같은 화본과에 속한다. 한 식물이 초본인지 목본인지 구분하는 것은 주로 관속이 형성층이 있는지를 보는 것이다.