CPLONEL MUNRO'S MONOGRAPH OF THE BAMBUSACE^. 37 



good condition, and none of the spikes are perfect. I have seen a good and perfect 

 flowering specimen from Amoy; but all the others which I have had access to are in leaf 

 only. From the descriptions given by Miquel and others, taken, I presume, from living 

 plants in Japan, this species appears to vary extremely both in inflorescence and 

 foliage. This I can readily believe, from an examination of the Amoy specimen, which 

 exhibits most interestingly the gradual development of leaves into flower-bearing organs. 

 Wlien this is taking place, it is easy to understand that a great amount of variation is 

 likely to occur. In the specimen I have referred to, the lowest glumes generally and the 

 lowest paleae occasionally have the appearance of miniature leaves, with vaginae, ligules 

 and cilia, enveloping, however, perfect fertile spicukie ; as progress is made towards the 

 top of the spike, the ligule first, then the cilia, and finally the leaf-lilie extension dis- 

 appears, and the uppermost glumes assume the ordinary shape and form of those organs. 

 The bracteas, however, at the base of the flowering branchlets do not seem to be subject 

 to much change. Grifiith's specimen is interesting from the western locality in which it 

 was found ; writing of it at p. 38 of his Joui-nals, he says, " Great part of the side of the 

 hill below Premsongs village is covered with a small hard Bamboo, which forms excel- 

 lent walking-sticks." A leaf-bearing specimen of this plant, without any specified 

 locality being affixed, is attached in Linnseus's herbarium to his Fanicnm arhorescens, as 

 already mentioned at p. 22, According to Pierot, Buerger, and others, this species 

 appears to bear the Japanese names of Kuma Sasa, Kura Take, and Higama Take. 

 Banihusa kumasasa of Zollinger, Steudel, and others is certainly a different species, 

 which I have called Fhyll. kumasaca. Moreover Siebold, in his account of the economic 

 plants of Japan, in the 12th volume (1830) of the Batavian Transactions, when describing 

 16 species of Bamboo under their Japanese names, says that all arboreous Bamboos are 

 called "Take" or " Metake," and all herbaceous ones "Sasa;" whereas this species is 

 stated to bear both affixes. 



2. P. St.vuntoxi, Muuro. Culmo superne striate, viridi, foliis 1-2^ poll, longis, supra 

 tactu asperis, margine utroque fimbriato-serratis, petiolis supra subtusque hirsutis, 

 spiculis 2-3-floris, glumis caducis, bracteis longis membranaceis. 



Hab. China ! Sir G. Staunton. In herb. Hook, ex herb. Bro-mi. v.s. 



Culmus gracilis, fistulosus, superne suleato-striatus, viridis, semiteres, uno latere canaliculatus. Folia 

 lincari- vel oblongo-lanccolata, apice aeiita, basi attcnnata in petioliun brevem hirsutum^ 2-3 ad 

 apices ramulorum locata, 4-6 lin; lata, 1-2| poll, longa, utroque margine sctoso-fimbriata, subconco- 

 loria, supra tactu aspera, subtus basin versus tantum pubesceutia, nervis secundariis utroque latere 

 2— i; venulis transversis creberrimis, conspicuis, elevatis. Vagince striatse, superne pilis paucis hir- 

 sutae, apice membrana ciliata termiuatae, auriculisque duabus ciliis sublongis persistentibus finibriatis 

 appeudiculatse. Inflorescentia (foliis omnibus caducis) panicidaeformis, fle.\uosa, intemodiis apice 

 hirsutis, ramis iterum ramulosis, ultimis (basi bracteis longis hyalinis acutis velatis) spicas 1-3 sub- 

 sesquipollicares gerentibus. Spiculm in spica 3, subdistantes, 2-3-florfc, flosculis 1-2 infimis fertilibus, 

 6-9 lin. longffi, pediccllis rhachillajquc articulis hirsutis. Glunue cito caducae, inferior interdum 

 appendice foliacca tcrmiuata, ambre plcrumque icuminata?, sanpe floscuHs bre\'iores et apices versus 

 hirsute. Pcdea inferior multinervia, superne hirsutissima, apice attciiuata ct mucronata ; superior 

 brevior, basi biauriculata bicarinata, superne hirsutissima, apice profunde bifida. Stamina imperfecta. 



