660 CXI. PANDANACE^ [Freycinetia 



Syncarpium a globose or cylindric berry, seeds small, numerous, testa 

 crustaceous. Species 62, Ceylon, Andamans, Malay Penins. and Archip., 

 Australia, Polynesia, New Zealand. 



1. F. angustifolia, Blume. Tavoy. Malay Penins. and Archip. Scandent, stem 

 slender annulate, attaching itself to supports by adventitious rootlets, 1. linear, 

 12-18 by J-J in., terminating in a trigonous spinulose serrate tail, base sheathing. 

 Inflorescence a short terminal raceme bearing 3-5 spikes in the axils of large cym- 

 biform yellowish bracts, the outer narrowed into a spinulose serrate tail, t spikes 

 pedunculate, 8-12 in. long, filaments short thick. 9 9-12 in. long, ovary surrounded 

 by minute staminodes, stigmata 3—4. 2. F. insignis, Blume. Andamans. Java. 

 L. 18-36 by f-1 in., spinulose-serrate on the margin and on the midrib beneath. 

 Inflorescence terminal, consisting of 2-3 peduncled spikes, bracts concave, the inner 

 pink, the outer green, stigmata 2-3. Syncarpium cylindric, 24 in. long. 



Order CXII. GRAMINE^. 



Tribe XIII. BAMBUSE^l. Gen. PL iii. 1094. 

 With the assistance of C. B. Smales, Indian Forest Dept. 



(Munro, A Monograph of the Bambusacece in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvi. 1, 

 1868. — Gamble, The Bambuscce of British India in Annals Royal Bot. Gard. 

 Calcutta vii. 1896. — Brandis, Biological Notes on Indian Bamboos in Indian 



For. xxv. 1, 1899.) 



Perennial grasses, as a rule of extremely gregarious habit. A woody 

 rootstock or rhizome, consisting, in the case of tufted species, of short twisted 

 and entangled branches, producing a large number of more or less closely- 

 packed woody stems (culms), or, in the case of single-stemmed species, with 

 long creeping branches, producing a number of culms standing 1-3 ft. apart. 

 The culms are jointed, hollow between joints, rarely climbing, usually erect, 

 the outer culms of the clumps often overhanging, in some species the culms 

 almost lying on the ground. The young shoots which come up in the rainy 

 season, either in the midst of dense clumps or, in the single-stemmed species, 

 separately from the ground, have the full diameter of the culm, but are quite 

 soft. They are enclosed in large, generally coriaceous sheaths, often hairy 

 outside, which arise from the joints or nodes, and as a rule terminate in a 

 more or less imperfect blade. These sheaths, like those which bear the 

 ordinary green 1. of the Bamboos, are strictly alternate, there is an angle or 

 interval of 180° between the axillary buds of two successive sheaths. The 

 shoots grow with great rapidity, usually attaining their full length in less 

 than a month. As the internodes lengthen out telescopically and the nodes 

 separate, the green surface of the internodes appears between the sheaths, 

 which usually are yellow or brown, often producing a remarkable contrast. 

 The general appearance, length, texture and shape of these sheaths and their 

 blade afford good characters for distinguishing the different species. In many 

 species the internodes, while young, are covered with minute silky hairs. 

 After the culms have attained their full length, the buds, which are in the axils 

 of the sheaths, develop, in the upper portion of the culm, into leaf-bearing, 

 jointed, woody branches, which generally stand in half-whorls. In many 

 species the buds in the lower portion of the stem develop not at all or only 

 very sparingly, while in others they grow into half-whorls of branches, one or 

 a few of which often are much stouter and larger than the others, or they 

 grow out into short stiff, sometimes spinescent branches, leafless or with a few 

 leaves. At the nodes two rings may generally be distinguished, the lower is 

 the scar of the culm-sheath, while the upper ring, which is not always clearly 

 marked, corresponds to the node itself. Above the lower ring is the axillary 

 bud, and in the lower portion of the culm not unfrequently a ring of rootlets. 

 The rootlets, as well as the branches, when they develop before the culm- 



