118 ANNALS OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA. 
base into a 4 in, thickened pubescent petiole; ending in a blunt, scabrous, hairy 
point; smooth above except the scabrous points on marginal veins, smooth and 
slightly pale below ; main vein hardly prominent, pale, secondary veins 10 pairs, in- 
conspicuous, intermediate 5 ; leaf-sheaths smooth, ending in a round callus below the 
enlarged petiole and furnished at the mouth with а few long bristles; ligule short. 
Inflorescence a terminal spieate panicle bearing clusters of very long narrow spikelets ; 
rachis 1 to 2 in., slender, flattened on one side; bracts few, short. Spikelets 1:9 to 1:5 
in. long, very narrow, needle-like, on short bracteate peduncles, with 1 fertile flower 
and a terminal free rachilla and rudimentary flower; empty glumes 2, pubescent, oblong- 
mucronate, then а grooved, glabrous, short ласа ; flowering glume linear, much 
convolute, thick, covered with appressed hairs, long-mucronate; palea also much con- 
volute, glabrous, mucronate, as long as flowering glume. JLodicule one only seen, narrow- 
lanceolate, glabrous, Stamens exserted; anthers very long, narrow, blunt and penicillate- 
apiculate. Ovary narrowly ovoid, glabrous, surmounted by а long glabrous beak 
enclosing the style which bears З short plumose stiymas,  Curyopsis not seen. 
Malaya: collected by Singapore Garden Collector, Mr. Alwis, at Rupayoong, 
Malacca, in 1885 (No. 2167). 
I have seen only one sheet of this interesting species distinguished by the long 
needle-like hairy spikelets and short elliptic leaves. Тһе specimen belongs to the 
Singapore Botanic Garden and bears the name Bulu padi. 
Prate No. 104.—Schizostachyum aciculare, Gamble. 1, flower- and leaf-branch—of 
natural size; 2, pair of spikelets; 3, spikelet without empty glumes; 4, palea; 9, lodicule; 
6, anther; 7, ovary and beak and stigmas (from specimen No. 2167). 
14. Melocanna, Trin. 
Arborescent bamboos of moderate size, unarmed. Culms erect, singly from the 
ramifications of an underground stem, distant. Culm-sheaths often persistent, brittle, 
short, with short auricles, imperfect blade very long. Leaves broad, petioled, smooth, 
no transverse veinlets, Inflorescence a large compound panicle of spicate, one-sided 
spikelets. Spikelets 2 to 3, fasciculate in bracts in the axils of the spikes, acuminate, 
with one fertile and one or more sterile flowers. Empty glumes indefinite, acuminate, 
mucronate, striate. Flowering glumes similar to empty glumes. Рафа also similar, 
convolute, not keeled. Lodicules 2, narrow. Stamens 5 to 7, filaments free or irregularly 
joined. Ovary glabrous, style elongate, stigmas 2 to 4, shortly hairy.  Caryopsis very 
large, pear-shaped, long beaked; pericarp very thick. 
Distrib.—One well-known species and another of imperfect identification. Of the 
four others described by Munro, one is a Bambusa, one a Cephalostachyum, and two 
belong to Schizostachyum, - 
1. MkLocaNNA BAMBUSOIDES, Trin. in Sprengel Neue. Ета. п. 43 (1821). | 
An evergreen, arboreous bamboo, with single distant culms arising from the rami- 
fications of an underground rhizome. Culms tal, green when young, straw-coloured 
when old, very straight, clothed with sheaths which persist for long, unbranched 
till near the top, 50 to 70 ft. high, 15 to 3 in. in diameter; nodes marked by a 
