ARUNDINARIA 213 



aria are in the stems. These are round and straight, and develop the 

 branches almost simultaneously from top to bottom, and, in the taller 

 species, the branches at each joint are indefinite and numerous. The 

 low, slender - stemmed, sparsely - branched, very rhizomatous species 

 included here under this genus, viz., A. Veitchii, palmata, and Ragamowski, 

 have by Japanese authorities been recently separated with others into 

 a genus, SASA, a name founded on the Japanese term for dwarf bamboos 

 generally. 



A. ANCEPS, Mitford. RlNGAL. 



Stems 10 to 14 ft. high, cylindrical, erect or arching at the summit, to \ 

 in. diameter; purplish at first, changing to brownish green ; from 3 to 7 ins. 

 between the joints ; branches purple, slender, forming dense clusters on the 

 older stems. Stem-sheaths mottled within, hairy on the margin. Leaf-sheath 

 fringed with bristles and small hairs where it joins the base of the . blade. 

 Leaves i to 4 ins. long, \ to \ in. wide, brilliant green above, slightly 

 glaucous beneath, edged with minute bristles on each margin. There are 

 two or three secondary veins on each side of the midrib, and the tessellation 

 is very minute, but quite distinct under a lens. 



Native of the N.W. Himalaya ; introduced by Col. Edmund Smyth 

 from Garhwal, about 1865, and first cultivated at Elkington Hall, Lincolnshire. 

 It is a handsome and graceful bamboo, spreading rapidly by means of under- 

 ground suckers. It is very hardy, and although it loses its leaves in severe 

 winters its stems are rarely injured. It grows at elevations of 10,000 to 11,000 

 ft., and is said to flower and seed in its native home at intervals of twenty to 

 twenty-five years, when vast fields of it die. 



A. ANGUSTIFOLIA, De Ldhaie. 



(Eambusa angustifolia, Mitford; B. Vilmorinii, Hort.') 



Stems erect, 2 to 6 ft. high, round, ^ to \ in. in diameter, with a very 

 small hollow up the centre ; joints rather prominent, from 10 ins. apart at 

 the base to about i in. near the apex ; branches slender, erect. Leaves i^ 

 to 6 ins. long, to f in. wide, rounded at the base, long and slenderly pointed", 

 smooth, and of the same shade of brilliant green on both surfaces ; bristle- 

 toothed on one margin, minutely so on the other ; secondary veins two 

 to four each side the midrib ; leaf-sheath with a tuft of erect hairs at the top, 

 and smaller ones on the margin. 



Native of Japan ; introduced about 1895 by way of France. This bamboo' 

 spreads rapidly by means of underground suckers, and forms a dense thicket 

 of slender, erect stems of very various heights. Its distinguishing marks are 

 in the narrowness of the leaves, their smoothness, and similarity of shade on 

 both surfaces. 



A. AURICOMA, Mitford. 



(Bambusa Fortune! var. aurea, Hart.") 



Stems tufted, 3 to 4 ft. high, about as thick as a knitting-needle, slightly 

 hollow, dark purplish green. Stem-sheaths persistent, edged with minute 

 hairs. Leaves 3 to 8J ins. long, to i J ins. wide ; rounded, or even slightly 

 heart-shaped at the base, fine-pointed, dark green always more or less striped 

 with rich golden yellow. These yellow stripes vary in width and number, 

 often the major part of the leaf is golden, with only thin lines of green. 

 Secondary veins five to seven each side the midrib. The upper surface 

 is at first minutely downy, and becomes rough to the touch with age ; the 

 lower surface remains velvety. 



