86 SIR DIETRICH BRANDIS ON THE 
sui generis. We will begin with those species which flower periodically after long 
intervals at the same time in one district. Instances are Bambusa arundinacea, Willd., 
B. polymorpha, Munro, and Melocanna bambusoides, Trinius. The culms, which at that 
time are about thirty years old, die after ripening their seed. After the fires of the next 
hot season have swept away the tangled mass of dry stems, the rainy season produces 
millions of seedling Bamboos, which soon grow up into slender plants, 2-3 feet high, 
forming dense waving green thickets. Among these millions of plants, the stronger 
gradually get the upper hand, and these in the course of time develop those remarkable 
rhizomes which in tufted species ( Bambusa arundinacea, B. polymorpha) consist of 
innumerable stout, twisted, and interlacing branches, but in single-stemmed species 
(Melocanna bambusoides) have long underground creeping stems. 
These rhizomes produce culms, which at first are slender, but as the rhizome matures — . 
year after year get stouter and taller, until (in the species named) at the end of from eight 1 
to twelve years they attain full size. During this period the action of the leaves and roots —. 
is mainly directed to form and strengthen the rhizome and to accumulate in its branches 
starch and other reserve substances. As is well known, the full-sized culm attains its 
full height, which in some species reaches 120 feet, within about 30 days, a mean increase ——— 
in height of 4 feet in 24 hours. The first leaves on the young culm do not develop until © : 
it has nearly attained its full height. A large portion of the culm is enclosed in the hard — 
leathery culm-sheaths, which serve as a support to the soft tissue of the growing culm, 
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but which are not green and have no stomata. The extremely rapid growth of the young - 
culm is maintained by the action of the leaves of the older culms and by the accumulated — 
reserve substances of the rhizome. During the long period which intervenes between the — 
appearance of the first full-sized culm and the flowering of the species, the action of 3 
the leaves to a great extent is directed towards gradually forming and accumulating — | 
these reserve substances, which are required for the formation of flowers and seed. p 
Matters are similar in the case of those species which flower in a more irregular - 
fashion; of these species Dendrocalamus strictus is the best-known example. One or oe 
few culms in one clump, or a few clumps in one locality, are in flower at any time, while - 
at other times all culms of one clump and all clumps in one district are simultaneously 
covered with flowers. F 
There is a third class : those species which flower annually or nearly so, the flower- 
panicle terminating the leaf-bearing culms (Arundinaria Wightiana, Nees, Ochlandra 
Rheedii, Benth., O. stridula, Thwaites). B — 
The duty of the leaves is the same in the case of all three classes ; in conjunction wil ! 
the action of the roots the leaves accomplish two results, the formation and increase 
the rhizome and fresh culms, and the accumulation of reserve substances which enable 
the species to produce flowers and seed. The leaves, not of Grasses only but of all other 
perennial and woody plants, have to perform similar duties, and the examination | ; 
the life-history of Bamboos does not enable us to suggest a physiological signifi nc 
of the peculiar structure of Bamboo leaves. 
Bamboos differ from most other Grasses in this, that in most species the culm 
