300 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Scandix grandiflora, Linne. 



Countries around the Mediterranean Sea. An annual herb, 

 much liked there as a salad for its pleasant aromatic taste. 



Schima Wallichii, Choisy. 



India, up to 5,000 feet. A tree attaining a height of 100 feet. 

 Timber highly valuable (C. B. Clarke). 



Schizostachyum Blumei, Nees. 



Java, at an elevation of about 3,000 feet. A lofty Bamboo. 

 A few other 'species, less elevated, occur in China, the South 

 Sea and Philippine Islands, and Madagascar. The genus 

 might well be united with Melocanna. The Bamboos being 

 thus brought once more before us, it may be deemed advisable 

 to place together into one brief list all other kinds which are 

 recorded either as very tall or as particularly hardy. Accord- 

 ingly, from Major- General Munro's admirable monograph 

 ("Linnean Transactions," 1868), the succeeding enumeration 

 is compiled, and from that masterly essay, resting on very 

 many years' close study of the richest collections, a few pre- 

 fatory remarks are likewise offered, to vindicate the wish of 

 the writer of seeing these noble and graceful forms of vegeta- 

 tion largely transferred to every part of Australia, where they 

 would impress a grand tropical feature on the landscapes. 

 Even in the far southern latitudes of Victoria, Tasmania, and 

 New Zealand, Bamboos from the Indian lowlands have proved 

 to resist our occasional night frosts of the low country. But 

 in colder places the many Sub-Alpine species could be reared. 

 Be it remembered that Chusquea aristata advances to an 

 elevation of 15,000 feet on the Andes of Quito, indeed to near 

 the zone of perpetual ice. Arundinaria falcata, A. racemosa, 

 and A. spathiflora live on the Indian highlands, at a zone 

 between 10,000 and 11,000 feet, where they are annually 

 beaten down by snow. -Forms of Bambusacese still occur, 

 according to Grisebach, in the Kurilian archipelagus up to 46 

 N., and in Japan even to 51. We may further recognise the 

 great importance of these plants, when we reflect on their mani- 

 fest industrial uses, or when we consider their grandeur for 

 picturesque scenery, or when we observe their resistance to 

 storms or heat, or when we watch the marvellous rapidity with 

 which many develop themselves. Their seeds, though gener- 

 ally produced only in long intervals, are valued in many 

 instances higher than rice. The ordinary great Bamboo of 

 India is known to grow 40 feet in forty days, when bathed 

 in the moist heat of the jungles. Delchevalerie witnessed the 

 growth of some Indian Bamboos at Cairo to have been 10 



