144 THE BAMBOO GARDEN CHAP. 
waving, and pointed. On each side of the limbus is seen as 
in PHYLLOSTACHYS VIRIDI-GLAUCESCENS a small hairy mem- 
brane; but this feature is not invariable. The sheaths and 
all their parts quickly wither and fall off. Under the sheaths 
the branches, before bursting out, are imprisoned in a small 
scale deeply cut into two hairy, fringed lobes. The leaf 
sheaths, as distinguished from the culm sheaths, are very 
thin and short-lived. The ligule is deep and round, the 
limbus very small. The bud scales are dark and mottled 
with black. 
As the lower nodes of P. NIGRA are barren of branches, 
the internodes on that part of the stem are round and do 
not show the double groove which is found upon the higher 
and branch-bearing portion. 
Munro says, “The stems, although slender, are nearly 
solid, and appear to be generally used for such purposes as 
require great strength and toughness” ; and, quoting Miquel, 
who says that this Bamboo seems to come very near to 
Bambusa stricta of Roxburgh, the solid so-called “ male 
Bamboo” of which lances are made in India, he goes on to 
remark that he cannot understand this unless it has reference 
to the culms being nearly solid. Moreover, he describes the 
species as “culmo superne nigrescente, swbsolido.” This is 
altogether wrong. It is true that the wood is tougher than 
it is im many Bamboos and does not split so easily, but, as 
a matter of fact, it is an extremely hollow cane, a stem less 
than half an inch in diameter showing a pipe five-sixteenths 
of an inch across. 
The leaves, which are linear-lanceolate, are pointed at the 
top, and rounded at the base, or attenuated into a short 
