4 COLONEL MUNRO'S MONOGRAPH OF THE BAMBUSACE.E. 



was aware of, did a general death of the Bamboo follow. So far as he observed, only the 

 flowering-shoots died ; and their place was taken by young shoots springing from the 

 mots ; but during the flowering and seeding the foliage almost entirely disappeared. He 

 adds that when the B<nnbusa gigantea at Calcutta, after thirty years, flowered for the 

 first time in 1861, the plants, although weakened, remained alive. 



I low important an event the general flowering of the Bamboo is, may be learnt from 

 the perusal of the astonishing, but authentic, accounts contained in the Journal above 

 referred to. Amongst these facts it is stated that in 1812, in Orissa, a general flowering 

 of the Bamboo took place, and prevented a famine. The seed gave sustenance to thou- 

 sands, and very many subsisted entirely on it. Hundreds of people were on the watch 

 day and night to secure the seeds as they fell from the branches. Mr. Shaw Stewart, the 

 Collector, of Canara, on the western coast of India, states that in 1801 there was a 

 general flowering of the Bamboo in the Soopa jungles, and that a very large number of 

 persons, estimated at 50,000, came from the Dharwar and Belgaum districts to collect the 

 seed. Each party remained about ten or fourteen days, taking away enough for their 

 own consumption during the monsoon months, as well as some for sale ; and adds that 

 the flowering was " a most providential benefit during the prevalent scarcity." Mr. Gray, 

 writing from Malda in 1866, says, " In the south district, throughout the whole tract 



of country, the Bamboo has flowered, and the seed has been sold in the bazaar at 

 thirteen seers (twenty-six pounds) for three rupees, rice being ten seers, the ryots 

 having stored enough for their own wants in addition. Hundreds of maunds (the maund 

 being 100 pounds) have been sold in the English bazaar at Malda ; and large quantities 

 have been sent to Sultangunge and other places twenty-five to thirty miles distant, 

 showing how enormous the supply must have been." Mr. Gray adds, "The Bamboo 

 harvest has been quite providential, as the ryots were on the point of star 





I have divided the Banibusacese into three divisions :— The first the one generally 

 adopted, namely, Tnglossa or Arundinarim , in which all the species have 3 stamens and 

 3 squamula3, and the stems are invariably without thorns. In this there are 8 genera : 

 Aiiuxdin aria, containing about 30 species ; Thamnocalamtjs, found onlv in the J I inia- 

 layas ; Phyllostaciiys, a beautiful genus found in Japan, Amoy, China, and the north of 

 Burmah, with very peculiar foliage, and likely to be popular in cultivation ; Arthro- 

 STYLimuM, Aulonemia, Merostachys, Platonia, and CHTJSQUEA,-the latter containing 

 upwards of 30 species, and ascending nearly as high in the Andes as Armdmaria does 

 in the Himalayas. 



The second division of true Bamboos contains only 5 genera :_Na8TUs ; IUmbusa, 

 w,th 26 spec.es ;G UADUA with 10 (this genus is very closely allied to Bambusa, and 

 is prmcipally dtftmgmshed by its locality, being found only in South America)' 

 Gio.,xtochlo A (also very close to Banbusa); and Oxvten ani L a> a genus which i 

 have fo^ rt necessary to create, to contain some species distinguished by a very Long 

 linear fruit, and very long pointed anthers. y ° 



The third division consists of berry-bearing Bamboos, in 8 K enera These -ivo nil 

 extremely interesting from their peculiar fruit Ti • L-i t 



contained in an envelope some.vluu tl^'to ' sac fTf """^ ' ? * 



c*udio ous to the sac, or utricle, or perigynium, 



