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For bamboo you see the fast part, but not the slow part. The shoots are prepared over a number of months where all the nodes are made underground. Then when it is ready the space between the nodes is added causing the very fast telescoping action.

Your description makes bamboo sound like some kind of fascinating alien technology/ organism, I love it.

Japan agrees! (or at least their folktale story does) [1]

1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Bamboo_Cutte...

- There are bound to be exceptions until a more general rule is found, or

- this is slow speed for bamboo, so it can be sped up even more (at loss of accuracy), or

- some combination of both

:)

Same with the Empress Tree.

I love my empress tree! Once the roots were established the thing grows beautifully.

It blew over this year (3 years worth of growth). Several of the shoots also blew over. Finally one shoot survived the harsh winds we get occasionally and it’s already ~7-8 feet tall.

and the leaves. They look like something from Jurassic park. They’re HUGE!

It's not really a fair comparison since it doesn't need anything to grow on to and growing straight up isn't that hard.