34 PACIFIC STATES FLORAL CONGRESS. 



that has been planted only four years, and has now twenty-five stems 

 at least, that must be some fifty feet high, a magnificent thing alto- 

 gether. 



Attaining the same size, but more ornamental and quite striking in 

 appearance, is the yellow-stemmed variety of the preceding. Of this, 

 splendid specimens are to be seen at Palermo, Sicily, and at Valencia. 

 Spain; so that there is no doubt it will become one of the finest orna- 

 ments of southern California gardens, where it is quite rare up to the 

 present. 



Bambusa Arundinacea, the most common giant bamboo in India, 

 has spiny stems and more minute foliage than the preceding. On the 

 other hand, it grows more compact, and appears to stand drought bet- 

 ter. B. No. 1 of my catalogue was introduced to California many 

 years ago, nobody knows from where. It grows in the same style as 

 B. Vulgaris, but not quite as large, the "sheaths" beautifully striped 

 white and green. 



'The most beautiful and majestically impressing of all "giant" bam- 

 boos I will mention is the last. I regret being unable to give a name 

 for it. They call it "Taimin" and "Taisan" in Japan, but it appears 

 not to be a native there, and imported by nurserymen from the island 

 of Formosa or from some point on the coast of southern China. This 

 bamboo has much broader leaves than any of the other "giants,'' and of 

 much darker green, keeping well all winter. The stems grow straight 

 as a rocket, and ultimately must attain considerable size,' as far as we 

 can judge from the larger specimens at Santa Barbara, that aro only 

 seven years old. 



To close this enumeration of bamboos I will have to mention two 

 species of Dendrocalamus, very promising for frostless locations, but 

 very scarce up to now, namely, D. Strictus, the "male" bamboo of 

 India, where it is quite common and much prized for building and 

 other purposes, its stems being solid and very tough. They reach fifty 

 or sixty feet, and arch very gracefully, the foliage being thick and like 

 velvet to the touch. D. Membranaceus, from Burma, appears to be 

 more tender and not such a rapid grower ; it has very fine foliage of a 

 light green color. 



Among other ornamental grasses hardy everywhere in California, 

 the "Pampas," as it is commonly called, Gynerium Argentcuin, or 

 Cortaderia, as it was recently rebaptized, is too well known to every- 

 body, and everybody knows what fine effects it gives on extensive 

 grounds, the only drawback being that it grows so large with us as to 

 be necessarily excluded from small city lots. What is not generally 

 known is that there are a number of varieties having plumes of dif- 

 ferent shades of pink and purple, that could be used to advantage at 

 their proper place. 



