CHAP. VI PHYLLOSTACHYS CASTILLONIS 153 
however, is but a temporary evil at the worst, and I trust to 
see the species more generally introduced than it has been 
hitherto. It may be hoped, moreover, that such a winter as 
the last will not occur twice in a lifetime, and that hunters 
and Bamboos may not again be attacked with such persistent 
cruelty by that “Général Février,” upon whom the Emperor 
Nicholas placed vain reliance in the days of the Crimean War. 
Unique in this respect among its brethren of the Phyllo- 
stachys family, this species has both stem and leaves brilliantly 
variegated. It needs no elaborate description, for it stands 
out with an identity which is unmistakable. The stems, 
which with me have reached a height of from 5 to 6 feet, are 
thick in proportion to their height as compared with other 
Bamboos, being about 1 inch or rather more in circumference. 
They are as smooth as polished ivory, and much ziezagged 
from node to node. The wood is hard and tough; the 
cavity, in a stem of 1} inch in circumference, is three-six- 
teenths of an inch in diameter. The colouring of the stem 
is curious. The double groove is bright green, the rest of its 
circumference being yellow, and this colouring is not on the 
surface only but goes right through the wood to the cavity. 
Owing to their position the two colours are alternate all the 
way up the culm, the hues being intensified with age. 
In the knots the upper rim, which is extremely prominent, 
is dark yellow, while the lower rim, which, though very sharp, 
is not nearly so salient, is of a pinkish brown colour. The 
internodes on a 5-foot stem are from 3 to 44 inches in 
length. The culm sheaths are purple, with a pinkish tinge. 
The ligule and limbus very small, dressed with a few 
long purplish hairs on either side of the latter. They 
