26 JAPANESE BAMBOOS. 



depends upon the characters of the flower, it is not a very well- 

 known group of plants. The monograph by Munro" is one of 

 the most comprehensive attempts to give in one book descriptions 

 of all of the known species. Of the hundreds of described forms 

 only a small proportion are of much economic importance, and of 

 these only a few are hardy. When the interior of China, the slopes 

 of the Himalayas and Andes, and the mountains of the Malay 

 Archipelago have been searched over for valuable hardy forms, 

 the comparatively short list of species suitable for introduction will 

 doubtless be largely increased. Anyone wishing- to know what a 

 large territory there is to search over for hardy bamboos and how 

 many remain to be introduced and tested, will find these subjects dis- 

 cussed in a very interesting chapter called, "Future possibilities." in 

 Mr. Mitford's book, "The Bamboo Garden." Nor should attention 

 be confined to the hardy forms, when the tropical species are so many 

 and various and have been so little studied from an economic stand- 

 point. There are forms in Burma which could doubtless be introduced 

 with great advantage into the Philippines, and species from the semi- 

 tropical regions of China which are worthy of establishing in Hawaii. 

 In fact, the more familiar one becomes with the bamboo question the 

 truer does Mr. Mitford's statement, from the aesthetic standpoint, 

 appear, that "we have only touched the fringe of what we may hope 

 to achieve in the decoration of our wilderness gardens with the grace 

 of these royal grasses." 



At present, only a limited number of forms are eligible for intro- 

 duction into the United States, and the majority of these are found in 

 Japan. 



The following popular descriptions of the more important economic 

 sorts are given to assist in determining those common species which 

 may be introduced in the near future, or which are already growing in 

 America. The nomenclature followed is that given by Mr. Mitford 

 in his "Bamboo Garden, 1 ' except in such species as are not included 

 by him, when Sir Ernest Satow's work, "The Cultivation of Bamboos 

 in Japan, " is followed. This is not an attempt to clear up the nomen- 

 clature of these badly mixed species. 



The different common species of Japanese bamboos which resemble 

 each other have been so often taken for one another that a convenient 

 method of telling them apart is a very desirable thing. Such a method 

 Sir Ernest Satow has drawn attention to in his book. It consists in 

 comparing the forms and markings of the sheaths that surround the 

 young shoots and in the leaf -like appendages or pseudophylls which 

 are borne at their tips. He has published colored plates to illustrate 



a Monograph of the Bambusacese, including descriptions of all the species. London, 



1K70, 157 pp. 



