60 THE BAMBOO GARDEN CHAP. 
narias. Before the branches are developed it is furnished 
from top to bottom with sheaths, the upper edges of which 
are fringed. These sheaths vary in size according to their 
position on the stem, being very short at the bottom (though 
at this point they are longer than and overlap the internodes) 
and increasing in size towards the middle until they are 
8 or 10 inches in length. Their colour is at first a fine green 
shading to purple, but soon fades to a dull yellow. At its 
top the sheath, as it were, divides itself longitudinally into two 
parts—the ligule and the limbus, or blade. (1) The ligule is a 
narrow elliptic membrane cut straight at the top like a scale, 
about one-sixteenth of an inch deep, which adheres closely to 
the stem and prevents the rain from running down between it 
and the sheath and so attacking the bud—the future branch 
of which the sheath is the natural guardian. On either side 
the limbus, curling slightly back, forms, as it were, two grooves 
which serve as channels to turn the water into its proper 
course. On the lower sheaths the ligule is, as a further protec- 
tion, fringed with hairs, which are imperceptible on the upper 
sheaths. (2) The limbus, or blade, is a leaf-like appendage 
standing out at an angle from the sheath, or curving over, 
narrow and lanceolated, smooth on the upper surface, and 
slightly ribbed on the lower, with a fine serration on both 
edges. It is green at first, and often striped with white, but 
soon withers to a dull brownish straw colour. The limbus 
is very variable in length and breadth being from 3 to 4 
inches long, and from a quarter to half an inch wide. 
At first sight the blade has the appearance of a true leaf; 
but on examination it will be seen that it differs from a leaf 
in having no midrib, the nerves being numerous (sometimes 
