VARIATION IN THE CANE AND CANE VARIETIES 55 



upper part ; the lower portion a distinctly depressed ring which is deepest below 

 the bud ; the leaf-scar projecting prominently from beneath the bud, but adhering 

 closely to the stalk on the opposite side ; rudimentary roots in three or four rows. 

 Buds, varying in length and width, usually plump ; typically broadly ovate- 

 acuminate to triangular, with a margin medium to wide ; sometimes broadly ovate 

 or semi-elliptical ; lobes typically distinct ; may or may not start to expand on 

 the standing cane. Foliage abundant, some of the dry leaves also adhere to the 

 stalk, medium green in colour. Leaf, medium width, medium length, tapering into a 

 long, acute point. Leaf sheath somewhat flattened laterally at the throat ; auricles 

 medium size ; ligule, medium length, with the upper edge rounded in outline, 

 or occasionally slightly depressed in the centre. Vestiture of leaf sheath, a few 

 setae in a line on the back. Vestiture of throat of sheath, medium coarse hairs on 

 auricles, adjacent edges, and face of the leaf, and sometimes fine hairs on the 

 surface of the base of the leaf. Most important distinguishing characteristics, 

 colour and the form of the intemodes and buds. 



The following technical description of the Black Cheribon was given 

 the writer by Dr. Kobus : — 



Colour, dark violet-red ; internodes, cylindrical, arranged in a faint zigzag 

 line ; eye, cordiform ; rows of roots, three to four ; channel above the eye, 

 distinct on two-thirds of the internodes ; colour of the pith, white ; leaf sheath, 

 green-pink when sun-exposed ; few hairs on back ; blade of leaf, dark green, 

 broad and long, top bending over, slightly lobed on one side at junction of sheath 

 and blade ; arrows occasionally, female fertile, male sterile. 



These varieties are illustrated in Plates II, III, IV (pages 16, 33, 37). The 

 light and striped varieties were drawn from canes grown in Mauritius as Rose 

 and Striped Bamboo. The dark-coloured variety was drawn in Hawaii from 

 an imported Louisiana Purple. 



A number of other varieties have been grown in Java, and as mention of 

 them occurs in the literature, and as they too have been introduced to other 

 countries, their names are placed on record. Of such there are Tibboo 

 Meerah or red cane, Tibboo Itam or black cane, this term being also applied 

 to the dark-coloured variety described above, Tibboo Soerat or striped cane, 

 the term Soerat appearing in many combinations, Assep, Njamplong, A wo 

 de Passeroan, A wo de Teloek Djambo. 



Van Deventer^^ describes a number of canes of interest in Java. Of 

 these the description of the Japara cane and of the Striped Preanger coincides 

 remarkably with the characteristics of the light-coloured and striped variety 

 forming the subject of this section. It is, however, remarkable that the 

 Java literature does not, as far as the writer has been able to find, contain 

 any discussion of bud variation and the relationships between striped and 

 self-coloured canes. Other canes imported into Java in recent times and 

 which have been used in breeding and similar work are the green-striped and 

 black Borneo canes ; the Fiji cane or Canne Morte, the White and Black 

 Manila canes and the Bat j an canes in striped and self-coloured varieties. 

 The White and Black Manila canes may be synonymous with other canes 

 here described. 



The Tanna or Caledonia Canes. — The canes referred to under this 

 heading, like the Batavian canes, are found in a dark, light and striped 

 variety, and are also connected by a complete c\^cle. 



The cultivation, which is almost entirely confined to the light-coloured 

 variety, began only in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and is 

 confined to Mauritius, Hawaii, Fiji, and Australia. It is interesting to note 

 that Captain Cook records that the canes that he saw on the island of Tanna 

 were much larger than those that he saw on the island of Otaheite, and such 



