570 LXXYIII. GEAMINEiE. [Dendrocalamus. 



throughout the year. Fl. between Nov, and April, the seed ripening in June. 

 The stems that have flowered die after the seed ripens. Attains 20-40 ft. in the 

 Panjab, in South India it grows 30-50 ft. high ; in Burma, on dry hills, 20-40, and 

 on moist ground 100 ft. The stems attain their full height in a few weeks at 

 the commencement of the rains ; in the Panjab they do not harden fully during 

 the first year. The stems are strong and elastic, they are much used for roofing, 

 basket- and wattle-work, and they make excellent spear-handles. In the Bamboo 

 forests of the Panjab and the North-West, the different sizes and descriptions of 

 this Bamboo, as they are brought to market, are classified under a multitude of 

 names. 



2. D. Hamiltonii, Ifees et Arnott; Munro 1. c. 151. — Vern. Poo of 

 Lepchas, Wah of Mechis in Sikkim. 



Stems tall, 40-60 ft. high, joints short, 4-7 in. diam., with thick walls. 

 Leaves firm, subcoriaceous, 6-15 in. long, 2 in. broad, glabrous above, 

 rough, often hairy and generally pale beneath, transverse veins and 12- 

 15 pairs of secondary nerves prominent on the under side, indistinct on the 

 upper side of leaf ; sheath of leaf projecting considerably on both sides 

 beyond the short petiole, continued into an obliquely truncate coriaceous 

 ligula. Flowers annually ; spikelets in long interrupted panicled spikes, 

 common peduncle thick, hoUow, with numerous elevated longitudinal 

 Hnes. Spikelets soft, membranous, glabrous, not spinescent, cuneate, in 

 rounded compact lateral heads, each head supported by several broad 

 shining bracts. Empty glumes 2, subequal, flowers 2-4, one only fertile. 

 Style long, filiform, 3-fid at the apex. 



Sikkim and Bhutan 2000-5600 ft., Assam. The young shoots are boiled and 

 eaten. 



D. Parishii, Munro 1. c. 149, is described from flower-spikes only, believed 

 to have been collected in the Panjab Himalaya by Lt. Parish. It is closely allied 

 to D. Hamiltonii, but differs by ovate-lanceolate acute spikelets. If the speci-' 

 mens were really found in the Panjab, then it is not impossible that they be- 

 long to the large-leaved Bamboo of the Dehra Doon, or to the one of the outer 

 hiUs below Simla, which has been doubtfully referred to Bcmibusa Balcooa, fqr 

 the leaves of both, particularly of the former, resemble those of i). Hamiltorm. 



Another Himalayan Bamboo of this group is D. Hooheri, Munro 1. c. 151. 

 Leaves similar to D. Hamiltonii, but larger, 15 in. long and 3-4 in. broad, se- 

 condary nerves 15 pairs, with transverse veins very prominent on the under side, 

 indistinct on the upper side of leaf. Spikelets ovate, apex tapering, hairy. 

 Assam, Kasia hiUs, Vem...4s«ey. Nearly allied, but a smaller-sized Bamboo, 

 20-30 ft. high, with a longer 8-flowered spikelet, is J), latiflorus, Munro 1. c. 

 tab. vi., of Hong Kong and Formosa. 



