THE CEREALS. 103 



crop, it has several times proved most serviceable. General Munro 

 considers that it was this species (B. arundinacea) which, in 1864, 

 during one of its occasional flowerings, furnished food to upwards of 

 50,000 persons in Kanara. It is stated that in 1812, in Orissa, a 

 general flowering of the bamboo prevented a famine. The grain 

 of other kinds of bamboo is, in all probability, similar in composi- 

 tion to that of B. arundinacea. The three most important species 

 are : B.spinosa (Roxb.), growing in Bengal, Gongachora, Goraghat, 

 Assam, Dacca, Cachar, Tenasserim, Moulmein, Mergui, Pegu ; 

 B. tulda (Roxb.), plains of Bengal and adjoining provinces ; and 

 B. vulgaris (WendL), which is cultivated in many districts of India, 

 particularly in the Western Deccan, Kolapur, Sattara, Poona, 

 Sylhet, Cachar, Chittagong, and in the Eastern Punjab ; this last 

 species grows also in Ceylon, where it is known as "una." 



Young shoots of bamboo are eaten like asparagus ; they are 

 sometimes pickled. It is a favourite fodder. The plants, or 

 rather the stems, do not survive the seeding at least this seems 

 to be generally the case with the four species above named. 



General Munro (" Linn. Soc. Trans.," xxvi., pp. 87 to 157) 

 describes 23 species of Bambusa as well as many allied plants 

 belonging to other genera of Bambuseae. There is evidence that 

 the grain of not a few of these has been used, or may be used, for 

 human food. 



