A bamboo, named Phyllostachys bambusoides, flowered in China during the year 999. Since then, it has continued to flower and set seed every 120 years. The bamboo does this wherever it lives. How does the bamboo count the passing years between its sexual reproduction?
Light might be the clock - no accurately cycling bamboo grows within 5 degrees of latitude from the equator, where variations in both days and seasons are minimal.
The story of periodical cicadas is even more amazing - they live underground for 17 years, sucking juices from roots. Then, within just a few weeks, millions emerge, become adults, mate, lay their eggs and die.
What advantage does this synchroneity of sex provide?
Cicadas and bamboos are tasty to a wide variety of organisms.
To avoid predation, some animals hide, some taste bad, others grow spines etc. Bamboo seeds and cicadas use a different defense - "predator satiation". Each individual reproduces in synchroneity, and anyone out of step is gobbled up!
This is an unproven but reasonable hypothesis.
Occasional superfluity is one pathway to success.
Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould
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