Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday said he had a personal association with bamboo because of his surname.

He said in an ancient Indian sacrifice called 'Vajapeya', bamboo seeds were offered to fire.

"I do not say that my interest in bamboo owes to this association but I have to admit that I have always been fascinated by bamboo, which rightfully deserves its nickname 'the miracle plant,'" he said while addressing the 7th World Bamboo Congress in New Delhi.