PALMS AND BAMBOOS 231 



Castttlonis, which promises also to be one of the 

 hardiest. It belongs to the section in which one side 

 is flattened, and the flat side is a brilliant green, while 

 the round portion is a golden yellow, forming quite a 

 lovely combination both in form and colour. It is said 

 to produce the four-sided shoot, so much used in 

 Japanese furniture, and I find that many of the shoots 

 on my plant are so, but not all All the hardy sorts 

 are most easy of cultivation when once established, but 

 they dislike division and removal ; and they are said 

 to take root better when planted horizontally on the 

 ground, with both stems and root covered, but I cannot 

 speak of this from experience. They will bear heat or 

 cold, drought or wet, and are not injured by wind ; in 

 fact, I know of no plants that give such an amount of 

 beauty, and of usefulness too, with so little trouble. 

 They seldom flower in England, and it is not desirable 

 that they should, for the flowering is generally followed 

 by death. This is well known in India, and the manner 

 in which whole districts are laid bare has been 

 often described ; but in England I have never seen any 

 in flower but the Himalayan thamnocalamus, which 

 flowered about twenty years ago, not in one or two 

 gardens only, but throughout England, and in many 

 European gardens at the same time, and in every case 

 of flowering the plant died. 



