Bambusa. - HEXANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 197 
5. B. baccifera. R. 
Arboreous, unarmed. Pericarp a very large, pendulous 
pyramidal, one-seeded berry. 
Beesha. Rheed. Mal, vol.5. t. 60. p. 119. 
Pagu-tullu, of the people of the Chittagong mountains, 
where the plant is indigenous. 
This uncommonly curicus berry-bearing bamboo, is a 
native of the Chittagong mountains. 
Growing plants, seeds, and well preserved specimens, 
were sent me from thence, by Mr. Richard Pierard, a 
gentleman to whom the Botanic Garden at Calcutta is 
under many obligations. The bamboo he writes is the 
one in common use in that country, for every purpose of 
_ building, &c. His description of the tree is so full and per- 
fect that [do not think I can do better than transcribe what _ 
he says, in reply to my queries regarding this plant, viz. 
“It bears no thorns ; grows in dry places, chiefly on 
the sides of hills, where the upper stratum of the soil is 
sandy. The circumference near the base twelve or thirteen 
Jnches; height from fifty to seventy feet, beautifully erect, 
and without the least flexure, or unequality of surface, 
bare of branches except near the extremity, Perishes 
after yielding its fruit. 
“Ityields more or less Tabasheer of a siliceous crystalli- 
zation ; sometimes it is said the cavity between the joints 
is nearly filled with this, which the people call wegen . 
time.’ ” So far Mr. Pierard. 
- — Leaves alternate, bifarious, subsessile on their dvvectili 2 
ing base, ovate-lanceolate, smooth on both sides, and 
slightly ribbed underneath ; from six to twelve inches 
8, and from two to four brad: Sheaths of the leaves 
villous, with their mouths bearded with many long fili- 
form fibres, Spikes compound, issuing many together 
from the joints of the large branches, or upper part of the ne? 
Stem, long, slender, jointed, ramous, each joint furnished 
with a sheath on itslength. — Spikelets three, four. 
