896 



is used for covering Burmese cigarettes. This bamboo 

 flowers usually sporadically, so that. clumps in flower may 

 almost always be found; and consequently 

 largely and often collected; at the same time, ike other 

 species it sometimes flowers gregariously as it is doing 

 this year (1894) both in Sikkim and In Dehra Dun. 

 straggling habit, so noticeable in the forests of Bengal 

 and Burma, but curiously much less so in the Dun, J. W. 

 Oliver remarks, 'When they have no trees to support them, 

 the main stems bend over, forming impenetrable thickets, 

 and the lateral branches ascend vertically often forming 

 shoots nearly as long as the main stems.' This species is 

 very easily identified by its panicle of bright purple-red 

 flowers, and when out of flower the grey stems, long, 

 nearly glabrous stem sheaths and straggling habit cause it 

 to be easily recognized. The long hairy points to the an- 

 thers are also remarkable ." (J. S. Gamble, Bambuseae of 

 British India, Annals of the Calcutta Botanic Gardens, 

 vol. 7, p. 85.) 



Dendrocalamus strictus (Roxb . )Nees . (Poaceae . )40889. Seeds 

 of a bamboo from Calcutta, India. Presented by Mr. William 

 Bembower, Collins, Ohio. "A very useful and strong bamboo 

 of India, formerly used universally for spear shafts. The 

 plant flowers frequently and does not die down after flow- 

 ering as is the case with so many bamboos. The culms are 

 said sometimes to reach a height of 100 feet. This is the 

 most common and most widely spread and most universally 

 used of the Indian bamboos, and is commonly known as the 

 "male bamboo. 1 Its culms are employed by the natives for 

 all purposes of building and furniture, for mats, baskets, 

 sticks and other purposes. It furnishes, when solid culms 

 are procurable, the best material for lance shafts. In 

 Burma, when large culms are obtainable, they are much in 

 request for mats for native boats. It flowers gregarious- 

 ly over large areas, as it did in the Central Provinces in 

 1865, but it may be found flowering sporadically, a few 

 clumps at a time, almost every year, in any locality, and 

 such clumps then usually die off. These flowerings how- 

 ever, do not produce as much good seed as when the gregar- 

 ious flowering takes place. The flowers appear in the 

 cold season between November and April, the seed ripening 

 in June. The leaves fall in February or March, and the 

 young new ones appear in April. The young culms are 

 rather late, usually beginning to appear in July sometime 

 after the rains begin. "(J. S. Gamble, Bambuseae of British 

 India, Annals of the Calcutta Botanic Gardens, vol. 7, 

 p. 79.) 



