34 JAPANESE BAMBOOS. 



to show this character. The squareness of these culms is aptly com- 

 pared by Mr. Mitford to the square stems of the Labiates. Small 

 groves of this bamboo are to be seen not far from Yokohama, and the 

 writer has seen stems among one of these groves that were about 20 

 feet high, while Mr. Mitford says the plant grows to 30 feet near 

 Osaka. The sheath is very thin and delicate and more open than in 

 most bamboos, gaping from the base and leaving the greater part of 

 the internode uncovered. The wood of this species is too weak to 

 make it of any great value, and its sensitiveness to frost is too great 

 to enable one to class it among the hardy sorts. It is, however, a 

 decorative plant and worthy of repeated trials in the f rostless regions 

 of America. It is said that roots will form easily from the lower 

 nodes of the square bamboo if the portion bearing these nodes is buried 

 in the soil. This would facilitate propagation if the statement proves 

 correct. 



Bambusa Vulgaris, Schrad. 



(Japanese name: " Taisau-chiku.") 



A species growing in Satsuma, the southern province of Japan, but 

 which is not hardy at Yokohama. It is propagated differently from 

 the hardy sorts, as new shoots are borne from the base of the culm as 

 well as from the rhizome. Short culm bases, without rhizomes, are 

 potted and easily transported from Satsuma to Yokohama, where new 

 branches appear from the nodes. This species is said to be easy to 

 propagate because of this character-, but it will probably have a chance 

 to succeed in the United States only in subtropical Florida and Texas, 

 where it will require a good soil, rich in humus. 



''Shakutax." 



''Shakutair* is the name of a very pretty species which is reported 

 to grow in the northern island of Japan and to be perfectly hardy. 

 The writer saw plants under this name in the Yokohama Nursery 

 Company's grounds. They were very distinct from B. palmata, and 

 dried specimens were sent to Mr. Makino in Tokyo for determination. 

 The species is probably related to B. palmata, but the broad, large 

 leaves are mostly situated near the tip of the slender sheath-covered 

 stem, which rises from the ground with a characteristic curve, and is 

 bare of leaves for several feet from the ground. 



Plate V,-fig. 3, shows a clump of what appears to be the same spe- 

 /cies. from Tosa. one of the southern islands of Japan, which was 

 growing in Mr. Tsuboi's garden under the name "Hanchiku." The 

 culms are almost covered with the light-colored persistent sheaths 

 from the ground to the leaves. The stems are not over one-fourth to 

 three-eio-hths of an inch in diameter, and are about 5 feet hio-h. 



