228 AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY. 



as at Hong-kong, it is much cultivated. Stouter, but not so tall 

 as B. anuidinacea, it may be identified chiefly by the club-like 

 swelling of the stalk at the base, and its frequent knobs. The 

 wood is not so much prized, is porous and not so capable of resist- 

 ance. It is used for flower vases and other vessels, but the prin- 

 cipal object in its cultivation is to furnish bamboo sprouts in spring.^ 



4. PhyllostacJiys nigra, Munro {Bambusa piiberula, Miq.), Japa- 

 nese Kuro-dake, black bamboo, and Goma-dake. This variety 

 shows brown spots when young, and becomes later quite black. It 

 is a beautiful cane, from 3 to 6 meters high and of a thumb's thick- 

 ness, but is not extensively cultivated. A kindred or only sub- 

 species is the so-called Han-chiku, or spotted Bamboo of the 

 island of Yezo. This is found near the western coast of Shikotan 

 in Shiribeshi, where it grows in great quantities on both banks of 

 a brook, and on account of its beautiful marking (irregular brown 

 spots and shading) is much gathered. The Japanese prize it 

 highly and use it for walking sticks, whistles, brush handles, and 

 other objects. 



5. Arundinaria japonica^ S. and Z., called Me-take {i.e. female 

 bamboo). This is an indigenous variety which is found growing 

 wild in the hilly country, and much prized for thick-growing 

 hedges. It attains a height of 2 to 3*5 meters, and a finger's thick- 

 ness, is firm and hardy, used for whistles and brush handles, and 

 has found a wide field outside of Japan. 



Most of the other indigenous bamboos do not become woody, 

 but remain small and grass-like. They bear the collective desig- 

 nation Sasa, often form the underwood of forests, and are distin- 

 guishable in part by the variegation of their leaves, and several 

 varieties are found as decorative plants in Europe, for instance 

 Bambusa nana, Roxb., B. Fortttnei, van Houtte, B. aiirea, Sieb., B. 

 pyg7ncBa, Miq., PhyllostacJiys bambusoides, S. and Z., P. Ktimasasa, 

 Munro. 



The monsoon district is the old home of many kinds of bamboo 

 and the place where the largest and most beautiful varieties are 

 cultivated most extensively, as is also the case with rice. A portion 

 of these bamboos have spread far beyond the tropic of Cancer, 

 especially in China and Japan. Notwithstanding this, I cannot 

 agree with Wallace when he affirms^ that the immense grasses 

 which we call bamboo cane can scarcely be regarded as tropical 

 plants. The most numerous and especially the largest varieties 

 belong to the tropical monsoon district, and those indigenous to 

 South America and Africa seldom if ever cross the tropic line. No 

 other food plant in monsoon lands is as important as rice, and 

 no other wood growth equal to the bamboo (I consider here only 



* Bambusa quadranguJaris^ Fenzi., Japanese Kaku-dake (square, four-cornered 

 bamboo cane), Ciko-chiku, and Ho-chiku. (See Th. Dyer. "The Square 

 Bamboo," Nature, vol. xxxii. p. 391.) 



2 Wallace, "Tropical Nature," London, 1878, p. 52 ff. 



