76 SPECIES BLANCOANAE 
~ Illustrative specimen from Balayan, Laguna Province, Luzon, 
August, 1914 (Merrill: Species Blancoanae No. 77). 
GIGANTOCHLOA Kurz 
Bambus levis Blanco Fl. Filip. (1837) 272 (sp. nov.) ; ed. 2 (1845) 189; ed. 
3, 1 (1877) 337=GIGANTOCHLOA LEVIS (Blanco) Merr. in Am. 
Journ. Bot. 3 (1916) 61 (Gigantochloa scribneriana Merr.!, G. robusta 
Kurz?). 
Blanco’s description is very short and imperfect, but there 
is no doubt that the species he intended is as here interpreted. 
It is the only bamboo growing in the Philippines to which his 
description at all applies. As described by Blanco, the leaves 
on the ultimate branchlets are unusually large; when young, at 
least, rather softly pubescent on the lower surface; and with 
scattered, short, thick projections (scarcely hairs) on the upper 
surface, the margins and the midrib on the upper surface scab- 
rid; the sheaths are at first appressed-hirsute, in age becoming 
nearly glabrous. Seven collections from the provinces near 
Manila present flowers from January to April; Blanco saw dried 
flowers in June and remarks: “tal vez florecera en Febr.” I have 
received no specimens under the Tagalog name cited by Blanco, 
cauayan boo, its most common name being cauayan sina, that 
is, “Chinese bamboo’’, indicating merely that it is probably an 
introduced species, not necessarily, however, from China. It 
apparently does not occur outside of cultivation in the Philip- 
pines. Gigantochloa robusta Kurz, of Java, is probably the same. 
Illustrative specimen from Tayabas Province, Luzon, March, 
1914, comm. D. L. Topping (Merrill: Species Blanéoanae 
No. 310). 
SCHIZOSTACHYUM Nees , 
Bambus textoria Blanco Fl. Filip. (1837) 270 (sp. nov.) ; ed. 2 (1845) 188; 
ed. 3, 1 (1877) 335=SCHIZOSTACHYUM TEXTORIUM (Blanco) 
Merr. in Am. Journ. Bot. 3 (1916) 64 (S. merrillii Gamble!). 
This species was reduced by Fernandez-Villar to Gigantochloa 
atter Kurz, but without good reason, although G. atter Kurz 
has been reported from the Philippines (Polillo) on the basis 
of specimens so named by Mr. Gamble. Blanco’s description 
is very short and imperfect, and he states (under B. lima) that 
he had never seen the flowers of calbang (B. textoria). It is 
described as erect, about 6 yards high and the culm 14 inches 
in diameter, the leaves sword-shaped, glabrous, the stems very 
straight and smooth, very common in some but not in all forests, 
much used by the natives, and known as calbang. Attempts 
to locate any bamboo under the Tagalog name calbang resulted 
in failure until an exploration of Batangas was commenced with 
