When a bamboo tree flowers, it dries and turns yellow, making it stand out in a verdant bamboo grove. Sometimes a solitary stalk flowers, sometimes it's a clump here, a clump there. And sometimes, what has struck fear in man for so long happens--a whole grove flowers at once. As one farmer describes it, "It looks like the whole forest is on fire."
竹子開花時，枝頭先乾燥枯黃，在翠綠的竹林內，顯得十分突出；有時是孤單單的一枝，無力伸向蒼穹；有時是這兒一叢，那兒一簇地亂發；有時﹘ ﹘也是最令人害怕的，是整片林子開花，「就好像被火燒過一樣」，一名農民形容。