€72 CXII. GRAMINEiE [Thyrsostachys 



•on young shoots, thin, persistent, tightly appressed to stem, half to three-fourths the 

 length of internode, blade caducous, 3-9 in. long. L. 7-10 by ^-1J in., n. 27-36 on 

 J in., sheaths keeled, minutely ciliate along the edges. Compound spikes 6-10 in. 

 long, branches with a few perfect and numerous imperfect spikelets in the axils of 

 sheaths, which frequently bear well-developed green triangular blades up to J in. long, 

 perfect spikelets J-l in. long, fl. 2-3, 6 and $ • Fl. glume with transverse nerves, 

 minutely hairy on the back, anthers yellow, connective produced into a blunt point, 

 filaments purple, long-exserted. Grain f in. long, cylindric, beaked. At the base of 

 culms frequently large tufts of thin filiform much-ramified branches resembling fine 

 grass, clothed with membranous sheaths, with or without blades. 2. T. siamensis, 

 Gamble, t. 51. Syn. Bambusa regia, Thorns. Vern. Tiwa, Ti-yo-wa, Burm. Indi- 

 genous in small side valleys of the Salween river between the Solo and Kemapyu 

 Chaungs (D. B. May 1859). Also in Siam. In Upper Burma cultivated largely in 

 monastery gardens. Tufted, culms 25—40 ft., straight, naked below, with dense half- 

 whorls of branches near the top. Internodes 8-13 in. long, of uniform length in the 

 same culm, diam. 1J-3 in., nodes straight and elegant, walls thick. Culm-sheaths 

 ■deciduous, as long as internodes, blade narrowly triangular. L. 3-6 by J-J in., n. 

 33-48 on J in. Branches of panicle slender, drooping, glumes clothed on the back near 

 the base with long soft hairs. Fl. periodically, cult, at Royal Gardens, Calcutta, 

 where it flowered in 1892. In 1893 tufts of thin wiry branchlets appeared with small 

 1. and a few fl. The handles of the best class of Burmese umbrellas made of the 

 •culms. 



5. GIGANTOCHLOA, Kurz; Fl. Brit. Ind. vii. 398. 



Erect or scandent, sterns branchless in the lower portion. Fertile fl. 2-4, 

 glumes ciliate along the edge, palea of all fl. 2-keeled, keels ciliate. Fila- 

 ments connate into a tube, ovary hairy. Species about 11, Eastern Peninsula 

 and Malay Archip. 



1. G. macrostachya, Kurz ; Gamble, t. 54. Vern. Wapyugyi, Burm. Hills east of 

 Shwegyin between the Sitang and Beeling rivers (D.B. March 1862). Also further 

 east on the feeders of the Salween river. Clumps lax, not compact, culms with white 

 longitudinal stripes, 20-30 ft. high, 4 in. diam., walls J in. thick. When Taungya 

 ■clearings have been made in the forest of this species, the Bamboo shoots spring up 

 immediately after the harvest, instead of the usual mass of tall grasses and herbaceous 

 plants. L. pale beneath, 4-6 by £-§ in., n. 30-35 on £ in., mouth of sheath with long 

 bristles. Long fertile and short sterile spikelets in heads 1J-3 in. apart, up to 

 :3 in. diam. Fertile spikelets linear, sharply subulate, 1-2 in. long, glumes 

 with a conspicuous black fringe on the edge and a few black stiff hairs on the 

 back. Caryopsis narrowly cylindric, tipped with the persistent style. I adopt the 

 above name, as it is supported by Gamble's t. 54, the main portion of which is taken 

 from the specimens at Herb. Calc. collected by me in 1862. 



Here may be mentioned the following chiefly Burmese Bamboos, which have 

 some resemblance to Qigantochloa macrostochya, though the flowers being unknown, 

 it is quite uncertain whether they belong to this genus : — 



A. Single stemmed. 



(a) Tabindaing, Burm. Karen hills south-east of Toungoo (D. B. Feb. 1880, see 

 Brandis, Suggestions regarding Forest Administration in British Burma, 1881, p. 141). 

 ■Culm-sheaths 6 in. long, gradually narrowed from a base 8 in. wide to an apex 4 in. 

 wide, a broad undulated band on both sides of the 2 in. broad base of the triangular 

 "blade. L. 8 by 1 in., glaucous and hairy beneath, n. 30-36 on J in. The Taungya 

 ■clearings made in forests of this species mostly grow up in Bamboo, and the period 

 which in 1880 was allowed for the Bamboo forest to grow up, before it was cut again, 

 -varied from 7 to 15 years. To this probably belongs Kurz's No. 156, from Burma, 

 without locality. 



(b) Tabindaing, Burm. ; Wabgai, Wame, Karen. Hills on the headwaters of the 

 Maitharauk river, ascending to the crest of the Bithoko range, also in the Sinzway 

 forest of the Yunzalin valley. (D.B. March, 1880, see Brandis, Suggestions, etc. 

 pp. 151, 153, 156, 157.) Culms 2-3 ft. apart, bright green, often with yellow stripes, 

 lower half naked, culm-sheaths thick, clothed outside with black irritating hairs. L. 

 8-12 by f-l£ in., n. 30-40 on I in. It is possible that Kurz may have based his B. (?) 

 villosula upon specimens collected by me of this Bamboo at an earlier date. 



(c) Tabindaing, Burm. Mogaung Forests, Upper Burma (J. "W. Oliver, Feb. 1895). 

 Culms single, long-spaced on the rhizome. Culm-sheaths and 1. similar to (6), n. 29-3 

 -on J in. 



(d) Tabindaing, Wuntho, Upper Burma, in cool evergreen forest, 500 ft. (Smales 



