structural:summarization
Toxicity

Gardeners working with bamboo plants have occasionally reported allergic reactions varying from no effects during previous exposures, to immediate itchiness and rash developing into red welts after several hours where the skin had been in contact with the plant (contact allergy), and in some cases into swollen eyelids and breathing difficulties (dyspnoea). A skin prick test using bamboo extract was positive for the immunoglobulin E (IgE) in an available case study. The shoots (newly emerged culms) of bamboo contain the toxin taxiphyllin (a cyanogenic glycoside), which produces cyanide in the gut.