PHYLLOSTACHYS HETEROCYCLA 
THIS very strange freak of Nature is called by the Japanese 
KIKO-CHIKU, or “the tortoise-shell Bamboo,” from the curious 
arrangement of the alternately and partially - suppressed 
internodes on the branchless base of the stem, which sheathe 
it in plate-armour like the scales on the tortoise’s back. At 
about 1 foot or 2 feet from the ground the nodes lose 
their abnormal character, bear branches and are regularly 
defined as in other Bamboos. It was thought at one time 
that this quaint and whimsical deformity of the nodes was 
due to artifice on the part of the Japanese gardeners, past- 
masters in the art of torturing plants into all sorts of para- 
doxical shapes and conceits. But an examination of a 
section of a culm of BAMBUSA HETEROCYCLA, with its 
peculiarly arranged diagonal septa corresponding with the 
outer scales, shows that the grotesque formation is the 
handiwork of Nature when in a playful mood. 
So far as its other characteristics go, this Bamboo does 
not differ from the Phyllostachides of the Mitis and AUREA 
group; but the plants which I have in my collection have 
not made any new shoots, so that it is difficult to give any 
detailed description of the species. Of its hardihood I have 
no doubt, for it has stood through the last severe winter 
