Bambusa.] LXXVIII. GRAMINE.E. 565 



large compact clumps of 30-100, generally 30-50 ft. high, but attaining 

 much larger dimensions on the west coast and in the Satpura. Joints 

 4-9 in. diam., walls thick, cavity small; lower branches stiff, green, 

 spreading, spinescent, with a few leaves ; upper branches alternate, regu- 

 larly distichous. Spines strong, sharp, curved, either in pairs at the base 

 of a branch, or in threes, the middle one the largest. Leaves small, thin, 

 lanceolate, 4-8 in. long, and J- in. broad, generally glabrous, sometimes 

 with scattered hairs underneath, 5-6 pair of prominent longitudinal nerves 

 on either side of midrib ; sheaths persistent, coriaceous, 1-2 in. long, 

 glabrous or pilose with scattered hairs, more or less fimbriate at mouth or 

 edges. Flowers at long intervals, probably at the age of thirty years, all 

 stems of one clump being covered with flowers at the same time, a few 

 leaves often appear with the flowers. Spikelets mostly sessile, in dense 

 half-whorled clusters at the nodes, glabrous, shining, the fimbriate edges 

 of the palea prominently apparent. Empty glumes 2-4 ; flowering glumes 

 4-10, the upper generally staminiferous only and sterile. Flowering 

 glume thickened and mucronate at the apex, wholly glabrous, not ciliate 

 at the edges, often shorter than the palea. Scales 2, hyaline, fimbriate. 

 Anthers with an obtuse glabrous point between the cells. Ovary glab- 

 rous ; style deeply 2- or 3-fid, stigmatic branches long-plumose. Caryopsis 

 J in. long, enclosed in glume and palea. 



Throughout South India, particularly abundant in the Anamallays, "Wynad, 

 the adjoining forests of Mysore, Coorg, Malabar, and Canara. In Belgaum, the 

 Khandeish Dangs, at Sironcha on the Qodavery. On two feeders of the Bagh. 

 river, a tributary of the Wainganga at the base of the Satpura range. Jubbul- 

 pur, Bengal, and (cultivated) in the sub-Himalayan tract of the Panjab. 



The stems attain 70-90 ft. in the forests of Bejagarh near the Bagh river, and 

 on the western coast. The manifold uses of this Bamboo for building, scaffold- 

 ing, ladders, carrying and tent poles, the masts of boats, water-pipes, and various 

 other purposes, are well known. Continued immersion of Bamboos in water, 

 or better still in a solution of sulphate of iron or lime-water, renders them more 

 durable. It forms thick and impenetrable hedges. In Hyder All's time, the 

 town of Bednor in north-west Mysore, was defended by a deep trench filled 

 with clumps of this Bamboo. 



Isolated flowering clumps of this Bamboo are found occasionally, but as a 

 rule all clumps in one district come into flower simultaneously, a few clumps 

 flowering in the previous, and some in the succeeding year. After the seed 

 ripens, the stems die down to the ground, and in the following year a dense mass 

 of seedlings springs up, forming during a series of years a close thicket of 

 slender stems, until the young rhizome gets sufficient strength to produce 

 larger shoots. Shoots of a full-grown rhizome attain their full length in one 

 or two months, being covered in that stage with large leafless hairy sheaths. 

 Subsequently the leaf-bearing branches develop in the axils of their sheaths, and 

 the stem gradually matures and gets hard and firm. It is a matter for farther 

 inquiry whether this and other Bamboos come into flower after they have 

 attained a certain age. Beddome (Fl. Sylv. Manual, p. 229) is of opinion that 

 this species generally flowers at an age of about 32 years, there being a flower- 

 ing on record (on the western coast) in 1804, 1836, and 1868. In Canara, how- 

 ever, this species (probably), Bidungulu, Can., flowered in the Supa forests 

 in 1864. This difference is in accordance with what I have observed in the 

 case of other species (B. polymorpha, Kyathounwa, B. Tulda, Teiwa), that 



