DESCRIPTION OF SPECIES 13 



The clumps are usually from 1 to 3 meters in height, the culms 

 up to 2 centimeters in diameter. The culms may be 5 meters in 

 length but when long are usually much bent. The leaves are 

 from 3 to 10 centimeters long and whitish in appearance. This 

 species is planted for ornamental purposes and in some parts 

 of Manila is used as a hedge plant. The stems are used for 

 fishing rods. 



BAMBUSA MERRILLII Gamble. 



This species is known only from collections from the Caraballo 

 Sur mountain ranges in Nueva Vizcaya, where it grows in 

 forests at an altitude of about 600 meters. 



It is an erect straggling species about 18 meters in height. 

 See Plate IV. 



BAMBUSA SPINOSA Roxb. (B. blumeana Schultes f.). Spiny Bamboo. 



Common names: dugian, kabugdwan, marurugi, rugian (Bikol) ; ka- 

 wdyan, kawdyan totoo (i. e. true bamboo), kawdyan tinik (Tagalog) ; 

 aon-o, batdkan, paua, kawdyan-gid (Bisaya) ; kawdyan si-itan (Iloko) ; 

 bayog (Zambales) ; lam-nuan (Isinai) ; baugin (Pampanga) ; pasingan 

 (Cagayan) ; cana espina (Spanish). 



This bamboo is the one to which the name kawayan is most 

 frequently applied. It is found throughout the settled areas of 

 the Philippines at low and medium altitudes, and is apparently 

 always planted, there being no valid reason for considering it 

 a native of the Archipelago. This bamboo was apparently pur- 

 posely introduced at an early date. Spiny bamboo, as well as 

 the other large, probably introduced species, has been cultivated 

 quite extensively in clearings which have since been abandoned, 

 so that considerable areas are now covered by virtual forests 

 of this species. Spiny bamboo offers considerable possibilities 

 as a valuable reforestation crop. 



Spiny bamboo reaches a height of about 25 meters and a 

 culm diameter of 20 centimeters. The internodes are usually 

 hollow, and from 40 to 60 centimeters in length. The culms 

 have thick walls, becoming progressively thicker toward the 

 lower part of the culm. It occasionally happens that the lower 

 internodes are so thick walled that they become almost or quite 

 solid. The stem contains a large amount of silica and sometimes 

 an internode is completely filled with a hard white siliceous 

 mass, which damages any instrument use in cutting it. This 

 bamboo is rarely found in flower and the interval between 

 flowering periods is not known. It is by far the most commonly 

 used bamboo in the Philippines, being prized above all others by 

 the Filipinos for building purposes on account of its great 

 strength and durability. It is distinguished from all other spe- 



