6 COLONEL MUNRO'S MONOGRAl'H OF THE RAMBUSACEiE. 



lias not tlic l('avi>s articulated at the base, below the petiole. Per this and other reasons 

 I have not included the lullowing genera, which are sometimes placed in Bambusaceae by 

 authors : — PariniKi, Aublct ; OrUioclada, P. de B. ; Uniola, Linn. ; D'uirrheno, llafin. ; 

 and Streptogi/iia, P. de B. I feel considerable doubts about the latter genus, which has 

 articulated leaves, and several points of structure analogous to Banibusaceae ; but the 

 presence of awns in the paleaj, and the short oblique-pointed callus, induce me to 

 believe, in the absence of perfect fruit, that the plant is most nearly allied to Arundo. 



In doscriiiing the flowers of Bambusacoso I have made use of the word " palea" in place 

 of flowering glume, as recommended and used l)y our excellent President, Mr. Bentham; 

 and 1 have done so with ^reat ditlidcnee, believing, as I do, that the lowei- palea is in 

 some sense a flowering glume, and in some of the Bamboos especially it is extremely 

 difficult to distinguish between the gkune and the lower flowers with only one palea. 

 However, in general, as soon as the flower becomes hermaphrodite the distinction is well 

 marked. In using the word "palea" I have, I confess, paid some attention to expediency, 

 which, I think, ought not altogether to be neglected in works on systematic botany. 

 The word has the advantage of being short, and, whether accepted generally or not, is 

 certainly understood by all botanists ; and by its use I have hoped to assist many who 

 are accustomed either to it or to a term of similar ])urport, as distinguished from 

 " glumes," in the writings of nearly all tlie principal authors on Gramineie, as Palisot 

 de Beauvois, llobert Brown, Trinius, Kunth, Nees ab Esenlieck, Stcudel, and others. 

 The word "palea" is also, I think, correct, as it originally means chaff, and in many 

 Grasses the chaff' is as much composed of the lower palea as of the upper one, to which 

 alone our President confines the term. In some species of Schizostachynm there is no 

 upper palea. 



I have followed Xuuth, Endlicher, and other authors in using the word " squamuloe " 

 for those portions of the flowers of Grasses which may be considered analogous to petals 

 in other plants. These have been called by various botanists "scales," "nectary," 

 " lodicuUe," " parapetala," &c. In Bamlnisaceie these are very interesting, and of con- 

 siderable value in defining species and genera. They are generally present, and in the 

 division Triglossa; ov Arund'marice, I believe, always so. In Dendrocalmmis, Dliiochloo, 

 one species, at least, of Schizostucliyum, and Oxytenaiitliera they are always absent. 

 In lieesha the squamukf are numerous. In Tseudostachynm three squamuhe are some- 

 times increased to five, and, with the two palesfc, are persistent and spreading, and 

 assume the appearance of a five- to seven-petalled flower ; to which deception the fruit, 

 as already mentioned, shaped exactly like the seed-pod of AnaycdJh arvoisis, lends its 

 aid. In GUjantocliloo, a genus in which the stamens are monadelphous, there are occa- 

 sionally one or two irregularly-shaped scales, which are never nerved, and appear to me 

 to be adventitious, and to owe their oi'igin either to a separation of a portion of the 

 staminal tube or some other unexplained cause. I always find that the first squanuila 

 to become deficient is that which is oiq)osite to the upper palea. It is also remarkable 

 that, in most instances where the squamula; arc deficient altogether, the upper palea 

 loses its tendency to be keeled and few-nerved, and becomes rounded on the l)ack and 

 many -nerved. And I would here observe that the flowers of Baniboosrc rc([uire very 



