DESCRIPTIONS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 195 



not only all the culms of a clump become covered with 

 flowers after they have shed their leaves, but also all the 

 clumps of the same kind growing in the same country or 

 province. Whole bamboo forests, so far as they consist 

 of a single species, may be seen in bloom over an ex- 

 tended area. This is frequently observed in Asia as well 

 as in America. In the East Indies the seeds, which are 

 rich in flour, are then collected and cooked like rice, and 

 are used for food by the poorer castes. But often, in 

 Brazil as well as the Indies, misfortune follows the sud- 

 den production of such vast quantities of mealy seeds. 

 It is the cause of an extraordinary increase of mice and 

 rats, which, after having eaten up all the bamboo fruits, 

 turn to the neighboring fields, devouring the crops of 

 whole provinces. The German colonies in Bio Grande 

 do Sul and Sta. Catarina are visited by these pests at 

 intervals of about thirteen years. 



On the west coast of the East Indian Peninsula the 

 simultaneous blooming of Bambusa arundinacea Betz. 

 has been observed at intervals of thirty-two years (1804, 

 1836, 1868). These and other facts seem to indicate that 

 this and other similarly related species must reach a 

 great age before they arrive at the stage of flowering. 

 Small plants grown from runners and cuttings bloom in 

 these cases at the same time as the larger growths from 

 which the cuttings are taken. Simultaneous flowering 

 has been observed in many species cultivated in France 

 and Algiers. Nevertheless there are exceptions to this 

 rule also. In many regions of the East Indies Bambusa 

 arundinacea has bloomed several times in other than the 

 above-uamed years, and in all cases in which the simul- 

 taneous flowering of one species has been observed over 

 a large area, there were straggling blooming plants in 

 the year following. The age of the bushes appears to 

 be only one of the conditions of flowering ; weather and 

 other circumstances also exert their influences. In spe- 

 cial years Denrtrocalamus strictus blooms more profusely 

 than at other times, and then it not infrequently happens 

 that all or nearly all the culms of all the clumps in one 

 region bloom simultaneously. The flowering, leafless 



