VI PHYLLOSTACHYS NIGRA 145 
petiole ; serrated more or less on both edges, narrow, varying 
in size from 2 to 6 inches in length, the longest and largest 
being found as usual on the scrubby growth at the base of 
the plant. Munro says: “The leaves in this species are much 
thinner than in any other of the genus; and although they 
vary much as to pubescence, the midrib is invariably hairy 
on the under side towards the base, as is the case in ARUNDI- 
NARIA FALCATA.” The midrib is flanked by from three to 
seven secondary nerves. 
The rhizome does not penetrate the ground to any great 
depth, but remains near the surface, sometimes shooting 
upwards to avoid some obstacle and then bending downward 
again, forming a distinct hoop or.arch above ground. It is 
the rhizome of PHYLLOSTACHYS NIGRA which furnishes the 
tough and flexible Wang-hai cane of commerce, which I have 
already described as typical of the underground stems of this 
group of Bamboos. 
Messrs. Riviere make PHYLLOSTACHYS NIGRA a native of 
the East Indies. This is a mistake. The plant is indigenous 
in China and Japan, and it has been referred to India much 
in the same way as Chinese porcelain which connoisseurs, 
by the strangest of all blundering name-jumbles, used to call 
“Indian China!” I rather doubt, indeed, whether there be 
among the Bamboos of India any species which resembles 
this Chinese and Japanese group of the Phyllostachides, for 
the Indian species are described as ceespitose, whereas a 
leading feature of the Chinese and Japanese species, with 
the exception of P.. BAMBUSOIDES, is the rhizome with its 
vagrant propensities, which, however they may be restrained 
under our skies, are rampant in their native climate. 
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