APRIL 1 TO JUNE 30, 1915. 95 



40886 to 40889— Continued. 



40887. Cephalostachyum pergracile Munro. Poacese. Bamboo. 

 "A deciduous arboreous, tufted bamboo, with glaucous-green culms 30 



to 40 feet high, 2 to 3 inches in diameter, and rather thin walled, the 

 walls usually about one-half inch thick. It is one of the chief bamboo? 

 of Burma and one of those most frequently found in association with 

 teak." (Brandts.) 



"This beautiful species is probably the most common of all Burmese 

 bamboos except Dendrocalamus strictus, and, as I am informed by J. \Y. 

 Oliver, it may be found almost any year flowering sporadically like D. 

 strictus and /). hamiltonii, but not generally producing good seed on such 

 occasions. The Kolhan and Assam localities would point to its having a 

 wider range than is generally supposed. The culms are lai-gely used for 

 building and mat making and other purposes, and in Burma the joints 

 are used for boiling kauknyin or glutinous rice, the effect being to make 

 a long mold of boiled rice which can be carried about to be-*aten on jour- 

 neys. It is at once recognized by the characteristic inflorescence, the short 

 sheaths with rounded, long-fringed auricles, and long bifidly mucronate 

 palea." (J. 8. Gamble, Bambusew of British India. In Annals of the 

 Calcutta Museum, vol. 7, p. 109.) 



See S. P. I. Nos. 21236 and 21943 for previous introductions and de- 

 scription. 



40888. Dendrocalamus hamiltonii Nees and Arnott. Poacese. 



Bamboo 



"A common bamboo in the eastern Himalayas from Kumaon to Assam 

 It is generally a tall grass 40 to 60 feet in height, but sometimes found as 

 a long and tangled bush. The young shoots are used as food, being boiled 

 and eaten in Sikkim, Bhutan, and Assam. The haulms are large, 3 to 6 

 inches in diameter, rather hollow, and not always straight, but they are 

 used for every variety of purpose." (Brandts.) 



"This is the common bamboo of the Darjiling Hills and Terai, of the 

 Duars and the Assam Valley, and is in universal employment for build- 

 ing and basket and mat work, though as a building bamboo its compara- 

 tive softness and thin walls make it inferior to such species as B. tulda 

 and balcooa. The young shoots are eaten as a vegetable. The inner 

 layer of the culm sheath is used for covering Burmese cigarettes. This 

 bamboo flowers usually sporadically, so that clumps in flower may almost 

 always be found, and consequently it has been largely and often col- 

 lected; at the same time, like other species, it sometimes flowers grega- 

 riously, as it is doing this year (1894) both in Sikkim and in Dehra Dun. 

 Of its straggling habit, so noticeable in the forests of Bengal and Burma, 

 but curiously much less so in the Dun, J. W. Oliver remarks. ' When they 

 have no trees to support them the main stems bend over, forming im- 

 penetrable thickets, and the lateral brandies ascend vertically, often 

 forming shoots nearly as long as the main stems.' Tins species is very 

 easily identified by its panicle of bright purple-red flowers; and when out 

 of flower the gray stems, long, nearly glabrous stem sheaths, and strag- 

 gling habit cause it to be easily recognized. The long, hairy points to 

 the anthers are also remarkable." (J. S. Gamble, Bambusexe of British 

 India. In Annals of the Calcutta Musi mn. vol. 7. p. 85.) 



See S. P. I. Nos. 38736 and 39178 for previous introductions. 

 14682°— 18 7 



