BAMBUSA QUADRANGULARIS 
THIS curious and somewhat rare Bamboo, rare at any rate in 
cultivation in Europe, owes its name to its culms, which are 
square like the stems of some of the Labiate. This feature, 
however, though always in a greater or less degree present, is 
conspicuous only when the plant has attained some size. 
This it has not yet done, so far as I am aware, in outdoor 
cultivation in this country. Whether it will ever reach any 
height with us, except perhaps in some especially mild 
corner of our island, is an open question. ‘The last two 
exceptional winters killed my plants down to the ground ; 
but in spite of this the roots have shown extraordinary 
activity, throwing up shoots in every direction, each year 
stronger than the last. I have good hopes therefore that the 
plant may in time become acclimatised, the more so as the 
plants which suffered so severely were travel-sick the first 
year (1893), and so manifestly unfit to cope with a succession 
of adversities. They now, in the late summer of 1895, are 
growing with a vigour which is quite surprising when we con- 
sider what they have gone through. But even should they 
continue to die down every winter, I should still think them 
well worth growing for the beauty of their summer foliage. 
There is a good specimen in the temperate house at Kew. 
