128 MACMILLAN : FLOWERING OF DENDROCALAMUS 



islands.' Manro, the monographer of the bamboos, gives 

 also .Tennasserim, on the authority of Dr. Brandis, but Kurz 

 says this is incorrect. This latter botanist has, however, a 

 Burmese species, which he calls Dendrocalamus brandisii, 

 ' common in tropical forests of Pegu and Mataban up to 3,500 

 feet,' which is probably the same as our plant. 



" In the Calcutta Garden, where it was introduced in 1831, 

 it did not flower till 1861, and the plant though weakened 

 did not die ; we may hope therefore that this is not one of 

 those kinds which succumb to the effort of flowering. It will 

 be most interesting to' see if the Abbotsford plant ripens seed, 

 and I hope it will be carefully watched and all the seed 

 secured." 



We are very glad, indeed, to be the means of enabling 

 Dr. Trimen to see and examine fresh blossoms of a very 

 interesting plant. We have always regarded Burma as the 

 habitat of this grandest of the bamboos, the late Mr. John 

 Armitage having reported after a visit to the rice region of 

 Pegu that there sections of the stems were used as grain 

 measures and v^essels for carrying water. In Darjeeling we saw 

 sections of a closely allied species, Dendrocalamus hamiltoni 

 (which is also grown on Abbotsford from seed sent by Mr. 

 Gammie), employed by the Bhooteas to carry milk and 

 butter to market, and also for holding supplies of the mild 

 beer, which many of them imbibe, made from crushed grains 

 of kurakkan with water poured on it and allowed to ferment 

 in the bamboo sections, which the beer drinkers carry slung 

 over their necks. We got plants of the Giant bamboo from 

 Peradeniya about the middle of 1874 ; so that the stems which 

 have flowered on the banks of the Dimbuldanda-oya at an 

 elevation of 4,460 feet above sea level were between 17 

 and 18 years of age. At the elevation mentioned the growth 

 and size of stem are quite equal to what can be seen at 

 Peradeniya or in the Pavilion grounds at Kandy ; while at 

 an altitude of 5,200 feet, on the summit of " Knock Ferrol," 

 the height and circumference of the stems are not very greatly 

 diminished. Split, seasoned, and properly prepared stems of 

 the Giant bamboo have proved useful as water spouts and as 



