PHYLLOSTACHYS MITIS 
In pride of stature this is the noblest of all the Bamboos 
generally cultivated in this country. At Shrubland the 
culms of plants imported some eight years ago have reached 
a height of 19 feet 5 inches and are 44 inches in circumference. 
In its native countries (China and Japan) it grows as high 
as 60 feet. The stems, which generally spring straight out 
of the ground like spears, are, when fully developed, beauti- 
fully arched, and have for that reason a grace which is not 
to be found in PHYLLOSTACHYS AUREA ; sometimes, however, 
—and this is a very marked characteristic of the species 
which I have observed in no other—the culms instead of 
being straight are curved shortly after leaving the ground, 
but usually bend back again after some considerable growth 
has been made, so that the tips are ultimately in the same 
axis as the point of deviation. I have already attempted to 
describe the growth of PHYLLOSTACHYS MITIS, observing how 
the young shoots when they first appear above ground seem 
to hang fire for a while before taking their upward flight. 
When once they start, they are drawn up with great rapidity, 
erowing even in this country as much as 6 inches or more in 
the twenty-four hours; the utmost growth that I have myself 
observed in the same space of time being 4} inches, but 
