566 Lxxviil. gramine^:. [Bambusa. 



though the Bamboos of the same kind in one district flower simultaneously, 

 those in another district follow a few years later. The large Bamboo (this species 

 probably) on the Nerbudda between Jubbulpur and Mandla flowered and died 

 in 1839, and the same happened a few years ago. Dr Hooker (Him. Journals, 

 i. 155) is of opinion that Bamboos do not flower at any prescribed age, but at 

 any period when full-grown and the circumstances of the season are favourable 

 to their flowering. The question is by no means cleared up, and more accurate 

 records of the flowering, not of Bamboos generally, but of certain species, are 

 wanted. It also is a matter for farther inquiry, whether the rhizomes of those 

 Bamboos, all stems of which flower and seed, die or produce fresh shoots. 

 What I have seen in Burma and India, leads me to think that they die, and 

 that in such cases reproduction takes place entirely from seed. It is different 

 with those kinds of which a few stems only of one clump come into flower. 

 The seed of this and other species of Bamboo has often saved the lives of 

 thousands in times of scarcity, 1812 in Orissa, 1864 in Canara, and 1866 

 (probably B. Tulda) in Malda. When young, the hollow joints of Bamboos 

 are partly full of a watery liquid, which gradually dries up as the stems get 

 older. It is not impossible that the well-known silicious deposit (Tabasheer), 

 which is found in the joints of this and other species, may be the residuum 

 of the fluid which often fills the joints. The ashes of all Bamboos are rich 

 in silica. 



B. spinosa, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 198 ; Munro 1. c. 104 ; Bedd. Fl. Sylv. 231, is 

 believed to differ in more solid stems, a paler-coloured and more striated flower- 

 panicle, smaller and more coriaceous spikelets, with fewer flow 7 ers and generally 

 smaller leaves often hairy on the under side. Bengal and Burma, and, accord- 

 ing to Beddome, on the north-east (not on the west side) of the Madras Pre- 

 sidency. S. Kurz, however, calls the Burmese Kyakatwa, B. arundinacecij and 

 I have never been able to find any difference either in growing or in herbarium 

 specimens between the thorny Bamboo of Western India and Burma. Pend- 

 ing farther research, I am inclined to unite the two species. 



2. B. Tulda, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 193 j Munro 1. c. 91. Vern. Peha Bans, 

 Hindi ; Tulda Bans, Beng. ; TJieiwa, Burm. 



Stems tall, unarmed, the joints with a large cavity and thin walls. Leaves 

 lanceolate, 6-9 in. long, about 1 in. broad, glabrous above, underneath pale 

 and with short soft pubescence, edges scabrous ; 6 pairs of slightly promin ent 

 secondary nerves, transverse veins none ; sheaths glabrous, with 2 distinct 

 rounded, auriculate, often fimbriate lobes at the base of the short flat peti- 

 ole. Flowers at long intervals, all stems of one clump bearing flowers at 

 the same time, each stem being converted into an " immense oblong waving 

 panicle, composed of innumerable supra-decompound ramifications " (Roxb.) 

 Spikelets lanceolate, 1-2 in. long, sessile, in clusters of 4-10, in long slen- 

 der, interrupted, often branching spikes, 12-24 in. long, 1 or several stout 

 and woody branches at each node, bearing numerous lateral spikes, and 

 surrounded at the base by fascicles of slender sometimes branching spikes. 

 Spikelets glabrous, shining, 4-10-flowered, with 4-6 empty glumes at the 

 base, which are often gemmiparous. Joints of rachis elongated, thickened 

 into a hairy disc under the flowering glume, and distinctly articulate at that 

 point, joints one-third the length of the flowering glume. Flowering glume 

 mucronate, with 13-15 broad, whitish, prominent nerves, slightly pubes- 

 cent at the edges near apex. Palea sharply 2-keeled, keels long-ciliate, 



