C. A. BAKBER l87 



The colour of this covered portion is usually yellow or green or a mixture of the 

 two. Bloom is usually absent in this covered portion. When the leaf sheath 

 is exposed, it assumes some form of green colour, this depending largely on the 

 quantity of bloom present. Differences occur in the varieties of each group, 

 and it has not been found possible to introduce U2i.iformity in the groups. In 

 the Katha section the colour of the exposed leaf sheath is a dark bluish green, 

 turning greyish green where there is bloom. In the Mesan.gan section the 

 colour is grey green to full green, while in the Sunnabile group there is a good 

 deal of variation but the greens are often light in tone. 



(2) Bloom. A similar lack of uniformity in the members of each group 

 is met with in the quantity of bloom on the leaf sheath. Katha and Mesangan 

 sections show hardly any bloom, and, in the former especially, the exposed 

 part of the sheath is frequen.tly shin.y. Bloom is shghtly more developed in 

 the members of the Smmabile group and there is a good deal in Bansi. Small 

 patches of bloom are not in.frequently present on what are called below " trans- 

 verse bars," where small swollen cross veins pass from one longitudinal vein 

 to the next, and the bloom patches are sometimes the only indication of their 

 presence. 



(3) ScarioHs border. When the leaf sheath becomes old, its edges turn 

 a hght bro\\m or straw colour. This sometimes takes place very early in the 

 life of the sheath, an.d shows uj) clearly against the general green colour. I 

 have termed it the scarious harder. It is especially present in all the members 

 of the Sunnabile group, where even the youngest leaf sheaths exposed already 

 show signs of withering at the edges. In the Katha section the scarious border 

 is absent in the young shoot, while in the Mesangan section it shows signs, 

 here and there, of commencing early but to nothing like the extent in the 

 Sunnabile series. 



(•4) Colour of yoiDiy edges. Besides the scarious border, there is another 

 respect in which the edge of the leaf sheath exhibits distinguishing characters. 

 It is quite possible that the two colorations are connected, but they are distinct 

 phenomena and are fi^equen.tly present at the same time in a sheath. The 

 edge of the young leaf sheath has a different tone of colour to the rest. In 

 the Katha section it is light coloured, sometimes white, and often transparent. 

 It is also light coloured in the Mesangan section. In the Sunnabile group, on 

 the other hand, the young edge is often of a red brown colour as far up as it 

 oan be seen, while this colour always makes its appearance very early. It is 

 sharply marked off from the adjoining green, and is frequently Hunted out- 

 waids by a white border. 



