BAMBOOS : 



BAMBUSA 

 TULDA 



THE INDIAN BAMBOOS 



Edible Seed. 



Shoots. 

 Fodder. 



Medicine. 

 Tabdshir. 



The Culms. ' 



Impenetrable 

 Hedge. ^ 



Manna. 



DE.P., 

 i., 381. 

 Plains 

 Bamboo. 



Strongest 

 Bamboo for 

 Building. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 392. 

 Himalayan 

 Bamboo. 



Culms much 

 Esteemed. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 392-3. 



Pegu 

 Bamboo. 



House-building. 



D.E.P., 

 i., 393-4. 

 Common 

 Bamboo of 

 Rice 

 Country. 



Gardener a" Chronicle describes the manifestation of 1862 as having commenced 

 in Travancore, extended to Malabar in the following season, and in the next 

 year to Coorg and Mysore. 



The seeds, which somewhat resemble wheat, are EDIBLE, and have in certain 

 years proved of great value in supplementing food-supplies, more especially 

 since flowering very frequently accompanies seasons of famine or scarcity. 

 Speaking, probably of this grain, Church (Food-Grains of Ind., 102) gives the 

 nutrient value as 87. He then remarks : " The food value of bamboo grain, 

 after the removal of the husk, is high ; its defects are due to the low proportion 

 of oil and mineral matter." The analysis, he says, shows 73 4 7 per cent, of 

 starch, ll - 8 albuminoids, ll'O water, 1-7 fibre, 1-2 ash and - 6 oil. The young 

 shoots (kalla bans) are greedily eaten and somewhat resemble asparagus ; they 

 appear above ground in August. The leaves are very largely employed as fodder, 

 more especially for buffaloes and elephants. The leaves and tender twigs are 

 also used MEDICINALLY, being supposed to possess emmenagogue properties. 

 The silicious deposit within the joints, known as Tabdshir, though found in most, 

 if not all bamboos, was first observed in connection with this species. 



The CULMS, which attain a height of 80 to 100 feet, and are 6 to 7 inches 

 in diameter, are very largely employed (although this is by no means one of 

 the best bamboos), but they are rather crooked and often knotty. At the 

 same time the densely interlacing thorny branchlets make it difficult to extract 

 the felled culms, hence it is not a species that would be cultivated in the 

 commercial supply of bamboos. But as a hedge it has often proved of great 

 value, and as Mr. Gamble says, except explosives nothing would have much 

 effect against it. It is often badly attacked by a small hemipterous insect, an 

 aphis which has been described under the name of Oregma ita minium (Stebbing, 

 Injurious Insects, 20-2). This attacks the leaves in such multitudes that it 

 causes a sort of MANNA to form. [Of. Taylor, Topog. Stat. Dacca, 1840, 61 ; 

 Pharmacog. Ind., 1893, iii., 586-92 ; Jasper Nicholls, Journ. Bomb. Nat. Hist. 

 Soc., 1893, viii., 298; also Ind. For., 1895, xxi., 90-5.] 



B. Balcooa, Roxb. The balku bans, balkua, bhaluka, boro-bdne, ail 

 barua, teli barua, wamnah, beru, betwa, etc. This well-marked and most useful 

 bamboo is a native of the plains on the eastern side of India. The culms are 50 

 to 70 feet high and 3 to 6 inches in diameter ; nodes swollen with a whitish ring 

 above and hairy below. It is probably the best and strongest species for building 

 purposes and is greatly esteemed in Calcutta, but it is not a handsome plant and 

 would hardly be chosen for ornamental purposes. It is much used for scaffolding 

 and is very durable if well seasoned by immersion in water, a process said to 

 protect it from subsequent attack by Bostrifinm beetles (Working Plans, For. 

 Jalpai, 1898, 22.) 



B. nutans, Wall. The pichle, bidhuli, nal bdns, mukial, makal, mahlu, 

 mahl, paoshi-ding-ying, jotia, deobans, wa-malang, sering-jai, etc. A moderate- 

 sized graceful species, found on the lower Himalaya from the Jumna to Assam 

 and Eastern Bengal, doubtfully wild anywhere west of Sarada but common 

 near villages and along roads and canals in Dehra Dun. In Sikkim it is met with 

 up to alt. 5,000 feet. Culms 20 to 40 feet high, 1 to 3 inches in diameter, and 

 having the internodes 15 to 18 inches long. Strong, straight, hard, good and 

 much esteemed, and since they rise from the ground well apart, plantations of 

 this species can be easily and profitably worked (Kanjilal, For. Fl. School 

 Circ. U. Prov., 1901, 367). 



B. polymorpha, Munro. A common species in the upper mixed 

 forests of the Pegu Yomah and Martaban, often associated with teak and dis- 

 tributed westward to Assam and Eastern Bengal. The culms, which are found 

 in dense clumps, are 50 to 60 feet high and 3 to 6 inches in thickness, much 

 branched above and curving downwards. The species is known in Burma as 

 kyathaungwa (kya-thon-wa), in Assam as betud, and in Bengal as jama betud ; 

 is considered one of the best bamboos for walls, floors, roofs of houses, etc. 

 \Cf. Ind. For., 1876, i., 22 ; 1896, xxii., 70 ; 1897, xxiii., 131, 263 ; 1903, xxix. 

 (flowering of), 244-5, 513-6 ; Alpin, Rept. Exp. Shan States, 1887-8 ; Ind. and 

 East Engineer, 1897, 166, etc.] 



B. Tulda, Roxb. The Common Bamboo of Bengal, tulda, jowa, dyowa 

 bdns, male, makor, kiranti, matela, peka, mirtenga, mitenga, wati, wamuna, wagi, 

 nal-bdns, deo-bdns, bijuli, jati, jao, ghora, theiwa, thaikwa, etc. This occurs in 

 Central and Eastern Bengal, Assam and Burma, also on the hills of the Northern 

 Circars and probably in Orissa. It is cultivated throughout Eastern Bengal 



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