GIGANTEUS, THE " GIANT BAMBOO." 125 



the increase being noticeable in the dry hot season, February 

 to May. In the course of three or four years the flowering 

 condition extended to other clumps some distance away, 

 whilst yet other clumps within a distance of 200 yards or so, 

 being young and vigorous, have so far shown no signs of 

 flowering. Up to the present, out of a total number of 

 twenty-one clumps in these Gardens, eleven have partly 

 flowered or are at present in a state of flowering, thus leaving 

 ten clumps which have not as yet blossomed. The first 

 clump of all which flowered does not at the time of writing 

 contain any flowering stems ; on the other hand, a number of 

 young leafy stems have sprung up on its circumference. 

 Other cases of flowering of the Giant bamboo have been 

 observed in different parts of the Island during the last several 

 years at elevations varying from 1,000 to 5,000 feet, but no 

 death of clumps has as yet been reported. Most probably fell 

 such clumps have originated from Peradeniya, and are there- 

 fore off-sets of the original plants imported, so that, strictly 

 speaking, all the clumps so derived are of the same age. 



It would thus seem as if the exhaustion of nutriment rather 

 than an infectious influence were responsible for the more or 

 less simultaneous flowering of the Giant bamboo. The vigorous 

 growth of the plant is such that it cannot go on growing 

 and extending indefinitely. The enormous demands it makes 

 on the soil can be realized by any one who has seen the 

 " ruins" of an old clump, the huge crevices and upheavals 

 formed by the elevated stumps as if the result of an earth- 

 quake. The gregarious habit of the plant also prevents its 

 spreading indefinitely over fresh areas for fresh nutriment. 

 Two of the flowering clumps at Peradeniya having regained 

 a more vigorous condition have now given up blossoming 

 entirely, presumably because their circumference has struck 

 richer soil. Although none of the flowering clumps have as 

 yet actually died, one or two are so nearly exhausted, 

 evidently as a result of flowering and starvation combined, 

 that another year will probably see an end to their existence. 

 All the flowering clumps regain energy to some extent in the 

 wet weather ; the stems produce young leaves, and new culms 

 are put forth from the base. 



