Bamboo Shoot
The photos show bamboo woods and bamboo shoots (Phyllostachys pubescens, family: Poaceae). The pervasive bamboo extends rhizome underground from which the edible shoots come out every spring. It grows quite quickly -- it can grow a meter overnight.
The stem does not branches off and is hollow. A person could be described as "as hard, not branching off, as simple as" bamboo in Japanese language.
Not too many living creatures eat bamboo leaves, but are the foods of certain animals such as Panda, a large mammal of Tibet origin.
October 2008, April 2004