164 THE BAMBOO GARDEN CHAP. VI 
is the name given by Japanese gardeners to BAMBUSA 
PALMATA, and to ARUNDINARIA VEITCHII, the latter being 
distinguished as the lesser KumAsASA. It is also apparently 
sometimes applied by Japanese botanists to BAMBUSA TESSEL- 
LATA or RAGAMOWSKI, while our English botanists, following 
Munro, give it to PHYLLOSTACHYS VIMINALIS, the native name 
of which is BunGozasa, probably from the province of that 
name in the southern island of Japan. There is thus utter 
confusion, and a triangular duel between science, etymology, 
and common use which is most bewildering, and so long as 
this lasts it would seem wiser to leave the Japanese names 
alone, contenting ourselves with the European nomenclature. 
But when science does find it necessary to adopt words taken 
from a foreign tongue with which she is unacquainted, she 
will do well to avoid altering consonants, as Munro did when 
he made saca out of sasa, or she may get herself into dire 
trouble. Try it upon a few English monosyllables! 
Munro’s barbarism is the more regrettable in that Von 
Siebold’s name RUSCIFOLIA seems so very appropriate; the 
other synonym, VIMINALIS, appears to me to be the reverse. 
But Kumasasa is simply a filching of the native name of 
another Bamboo, with a special meaning indicating a special 
character which this species does not possess, and is therefore 
the worst of all. 
