| bamboo | <botany> A plant of the family of grasses, and genus Bambusa, growing in tropical countries. The most useful species is Bambusa arundinacea, which has a woody, hollow, round, straight, jointed stem, and grows to the height of forty feet and upward. The flowers grow in large panicles, from the joints of the stalk, placed three in a parcel, close to their receptacles. Old stalks grow to five or six inches in diameter, and are so hard and durable as to be used for building, and for all sorts of furniture, for water pipes, and for poles to support palanquins. The smaller stalks are used for walking sticks, flutes, etc. Origin: Malay bambu, mambu. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| bamboo hair | Hair with regularly spaced nodules along the shaft caused by intermittent fractures with invagination of the distal hair into the proximal portion, with intervening lengths of normal hair, giving the appearance of bamboo; seen in Netherton's syndrome; autosomal recessive trait. Synonym: trichorrhexis invaginata. (05 Mar 2000) |
| bamboo spine | In radiology, the appearance of the thoracic or lumbar spine with ankylosing spondylitis. (05 Mar 2000) |