6 



MONOGRAPH OF THE BAMBUSACE.E 



has not the leaves articulated at the base, below the petiole. * Eor this and other reasons 

 I have not included the following genera, which are sometimes placed in Bambusaceae by 

 luthors : — Poriand, Aublct ; Orthoclada, P. de B. ; TJniola, Linn. ; Diarrhena, Rann. ; 

 and S freptogyna, P. de B. I feel considerable doubts about the latter genus, which has 

 articulated leaves, and several points of structure analogous to Bambusacese ; but the 

 presence of awns in the palese, and the short oblique-pointed callus, induce me to 

 believe, in the absence of perfect fruit, that the plant is most nearly allied to Arundo. 

 In describing the flowers of Banibusacese I have made use of the w r ord " palea" in place 



of flowering glume, as recommended and used by our excellent President, Mr. Bentham ; 

 and I have done so with great diffidence, believing, as I do, that the lower palea is in 

 some sense a flowering glume, and in some of the Bamboos especially it is extremely 

 difficult to distinguish between the glume and the lower flowers with only one palea. 

 However, in general, as soon as the flower becomes hermaphrodite the distinction is well 

 marked. In using the word "palea"' I have, I confess, paid some attention to expediency, 

 which, I think, ought not altogether to be neglected in works on systematic botany. 

 The word has the advantage of being short, and, whether accepted generally or not, is 

 certainly understood by all botanists; and by its use I have hoped to assist many who 

 are accustomed either to it or to a term of similar purport, as distinguished from 

 « glumes," in the writings of nearly all the principal authors on Graminere, as Palisot 

 de Beauvois, Robert Brown, Trinius, Kunth, Nees ab Esenbeck, Steudel, and others. 

 The word "palea" is also, I think, correct, as it originally means chaff, and in many 

 Grasses the chaff is as much composed of the lower palea as of the upper one, to which 



alone our President confines the term. In some species of Schizostachyim there is no 

 upper palea. 



I have followed Kunth, Endlicher, and other authors in using the word " squnmuke " 



for those portions of the flowers of Grasses whieh may he considered analogous to petals 



m other plants. These have been called by various botanists "scales," "nectary," 



lodiculai, « parapetala," &c. In Bambusace* these are very interesting, and of con- 



ulerable value m defining species and genera. They are generally present, and fa the 



dm»n I nglossv or Arundinc<ri<e, I believe, always so. In Dendrccal ., DincoMoa, 



r;^ s ' , *»'+*—' »* **— «~ <% are ^ absent 

 In Bee** the squamute are numerous. In Peeudoetaehym three squn mute-, re some 

 i. me. increased to five, and, with the two pale* are persistent ™ ", ' S ° m< "! 



assume the appearance of a live- to seven-pefalled floTer T ££' £ Jol" Z £f 



2 %Z 2? shaped e ™% w the seed - pod «**"> S52" 



ln igantocUoa , a genus m which the stamens are monadelpl 



aid 



A. ii Z . » 6—"- "• wuiou uie stamens are monadelphous there -.re ocen 



sionally one or two irregularly-shaped scales, which are never nJLi , . 



to be adventitious, and to owe their origin either T 1 I1Z !!"* "* "^ t0 ™ 



giu either to a separation of a portion of the 



staminal tube or some other unexplained cause. I a ways find W T, ! TT °' , 

 to become deficient is that which is opposite to t}JZ , firSt S( l uamllL 



that, in most instances where the sq Xml «^2KS 2 * *° ^^ 

 loses its tendency to be keeled and LJ^jS altogether, the upper palea 

 many-nerved. And I would here ZS £? l' eC ° meS ??*+ ™ «» >•* and 



that the flowers of Bamboosa; require 



ery 



r 



