4 COLONEL MliNRO'S MONOCii^AI'Il OF TIIK nAMIU'SACFvK. 



Avas aware of, did a general death of the Eambuo I'ulluM'. !So I'ar as he observed, uuly the 

 floweriug-sboots died ; and their place was taken by young shoots springing from the 

 roots ; but during the flowering and seeding the foliage almost entirely disapi)eared. lie 

 adds that when the Bdinbitud yiyanteu at Calcutta, after thirty years, flowered for the 

 first time in 1861, the plants, although weakened, remained alive. 



How important an event the general flowering of the Bamboo is, may be learnt from 

 the perusal of the astonishing, but authentic, accounts contained in the Journal above 

 referred to. Amongst these facts it is stated that in 1812, in Orissa, a general llo^\■ering 

 of the Bamboo took place, and prevented a famine. The seed gave sustenance to thou- 

 sands, and very many subsisted entirely on it. Hundreds of people were on the watch 

 day and night to secure the seeds as they fell from the branches. Mr. Shaw Stewart, the 

 Collector, of Canai'a, on the western coast of India, states that in 18(51 there was a 

 general flowering of the Bamboo in the Soopa jungles, and that a very large number of 

 persons, estimated at 50,000, came from the Dharwar and Belgaum districts to collect the 

 seed. Each party remained about ten or fourteen days, taking away enough for tlieir 

 own consumption during the monsoon months, as well as some for sale; and adds that 

 the flowering was " a most providential benetit during the prevalent scarcity." Mr. (Jray, 

 writing from Malda in 18G6, says, " In the south district, throughout the whole tract 

 of country, the Bamboo has flowered, and the seed has been sold in the bazaar at 

 thii'teeu seers (twenty-six pounds) for three rujiees, rice being ten seers, the ryots 

 having stored enough for their own wants in addition. Hundreds of maunds (the maund 

 being 100 pounds) have been sold in the English bazaar at Malda ; and large quantities 

 have been sent to Sultangunge and other places twenty-five to thirty miles distant, 

 showing how enormous the supply must have been." Mr. Gray adds, " The Bam])oo 

 harvest has been quite providential, as the ryots were on the point of starving." 



I have divided the Bambusacea3 into three divisions : — The first the one generally 

 adopted, namely, Triylossa or Arimdiiiaria, in which all the species have 3 stamens and 

 3 squamula', and the stems are invariably without thorns. In this there are 8 genera : — 

 Arundinaria, containing about 30 species ; Thamnocalamus, fovmd only in the Hima- 

 layas ; Puyllostachys, a beautiful genus found in Japan, Amoy, China, and the north of 

 Burmah, with \ory peculiar foliage, and likely to be popular in cultivation ; Akturo- 

 STYLIDIUM, AuLONEMiA, Mkrostachvs, Pi.atonia, and Chusquea, — the latter containing 

 upwards of 30 species, and ascending nearly as high in the Andes as Arundinaria does 

 in the Himalayas. 



The second division of true Baml)oos contains only 5 genera : — Nastus ; Bambu.sa, 

 with 26 species ; Guabu.a. witli 10 (this genus is very closely allied to Bambiisa, and 

 is principally distinguished by its locality, being found only in South America) ; 

 GiGANTOCULOA (also vcry close to Bambus(t) ; and Oxytexantiikra, a genus which I 

 have found it neccssai'y to create, to contain some species distinguished by a very long 

 linear fruit, and very long pointed anthers. 



The third division coneists of berry-bearing Bamboos, in 8 genera. These are all 

 extremely interesting from their peculiar fruit. The pistil generally appears to be 

 contained in an envelope somewhat analogous to the sac, or utricle, or perigynium, 



