426 LILUCRA. [Sanseviera. 



Isltamacoda nar, Tel., a small perennial plant with a strong, silky fibre ; and the Aloe 

 Agave americana, Linn. (A. cantula, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 167.) Vern. Cantata, bans- 

 keora, Hind. ; Pachakathalai, Salem, commonly run wild or planted in all the drier 

 zones in India and yielding a strong and useful fibre; the New Zealand Flax 

 (Phormium tenax) and other fibre-producing plants. 



ORDER CVIII. GRAMINEJE. 



The grasses constitute one of the largest and most important families of the 

 vegetable kingdom, containing plants of every size from the tiny herbs of the 

 meadows to the giant bamboos of the forests of Burma. In most forest regions of 

 India, tall grasses cover the greater part of such land as is not too densely shaded 

 with trees to prevent their growth ; these tall grasses are found, like the species of 

 Arundo and Saccharum, near the banks of streams ; or, like the Anthistiria and 

 Androsccpia, in drier localities, covering sometimes large extents of land and render- 

 ing it liable to the evil eHects of jungle fires. Such grasses have, however, many uses, 

 and chief among them that of providing material for thatching, for in some countries 

 in India not only the roofs but even the walls of all village houses are made of grass. 

 The chief species used for thatch are Saccharum cylindricum, Linn, and S. sponta- 

 neum, Linn. 



The tribe with which we have chiefly to deal, however, is that of the Bambusece 

 or bamboos, which are tree-grasses, sometimes attaining enormous dimensions, sometimes 

 scarcely more than an inch in diameter. The Bambusece have been described by 

 Colonel Munro in the Transactions of the Linnean Society of London, Vol. xxvi, 

 1870, and many details are given of them by Brandis, Beddome, Kurz and other 

 writers on Indian forests and their flora. For us it will be sufficient to give merely 

 a list of genera taken from Munro and of such species as are described therein, as well 

 as in other books. According to Munro, then, bamboos are divided as follows : 



Section I. Triglosseae Arundinaria, Thamnoca- 



lamus, Phyllostach'i/s. 

 II. B:imbusea3 ..... Bctmbusa, Gigantuclilou, 



OxytenantJiera. 



III. Bacciferae ..... Melocanna, < ephalo- 



stachyum, Pseudostachy- 

 um, Beesha, Dendroca- 

 lamus, Dinochloa. 



The names given in Kurz's Forest Flora differ often from those given by Munro. 

 Munro's names, have, therefore, heen given, Kurz's names being added as synonyms 

 and his new species quoted in the genera in which he had placed them. 



GENUS I AEUNDINABIA. 



1. A. racemosa, Munro. 17. Vern. Pummoon, Lep- Sikkim and Nepal, above 

 cha; Pat-hioo, maling, Nep.; Myooma, Bhutia, 6,000 feet. (E 1854, 

 2 to 4 feet high, with bluish, rough internodes, Darjeeling). 

 probably the common ' Mating' bamboo of Dar- 

 jeeling. It is very common all over the Sik- 

 kim Hills ahove 7,000 feet, sometimes growing 

 to a large size (U to 2 inch diameter), and is 

 extensively iicd F>r making mats for roofing, 

 for fodder and other purposes. 



H. A. Wiylitiana, Nees ; .Munro 19; Beddome Nilgiris. 

 ccxxx. ; Brandis 5(53, 6 to 12 feet high. 



3. A. Griffithiana, Munro 20, 4 to f> fret high, Khasia Hills. 



internodes woolly, sometimes j.ri-kly. 



4. A.falcata, Nees ; Munm "1\\ ; Uramlis r>r>2 ; Himalaya, from the \\-.\\\ 



(iamble 86. (A. uUli*. rie-lmni.) Vern. to Bhutan, above 4,500 

 Niryal, niydl, rinyal, >t<i</rc, inrrri, </<i>-ri, t'e-'t in the western, but 

 Hind.; <S/u<u/, yurtca, spiksu, jiitxu, descending nearly to the 



