GENERAL CHARACTERS. . 15 



of moisture a few plants will spread gradually until they cover a con- 

 siderable area. 



The new shoots of bamboo are produced by different species at 

 different seasons of the year. The majority of Japanese species send 

 up their new stems in the spring, beginning in April and May, and 

 it is these sorts that stand the best chance of succeeding in America, 

 because our cold winters will kill back any } r oung growth produced 

 late in the summer. 



This growing period is the most critical one in the life of the plant, 

 as the shoots during development are easily injured by winds, frosts, 

 or droughts, and it is upon the growth of these young stems that the 

 beauty of the clump during the summer depends. 



If one examine a rhizome of bamboo (PI. VI, fig. 3) it will be seen 

 to have at short intervals partitions or nodes, above each of which is 

 situated a small pointed bud, and from each bud arises a number of 

 fibrous roots. It is by the elongation and thickening of these buds 

 that the new shoots are formed, and if it is injured, though the rhizome 

 may remain alive for many }~ears, it will not produce any new buds or 

 shoots from these nodes. 



When a bud at the node of one of the underground steins has 

 swollen until it is much larger in diameter than the rhizome which 

 supports it and has sent down a number of good, strong roots, it 

 begins to elongate and push its way up through the soil. Tough, 

 overlapping sheaths protect the tender tip from injury, as well as the 

 undeveloped branches on the sides of the elongating shoot. These 

 sheaths are borne on alternate sides of the stem by each internode or 

 joint (PI. IV, fig. 1), and are, according to Sir Ernest Satow, char- 

 acteristic of each species/* They are tough and board-like, many of 

 them, often covered outside with fine bristles and characteristically 

 marked; and the tip of each is provided with a leaf -like appendage 

 called pseudophyll, which varies in shape with each species. These 

 protecting organs remain closely attached to the stem until it has 

 I; nearly finished its growth, when they stand out from the stem, allow 

 the young branches hidden beneath to develop, and finally drop off. 

 In some species the sheaths remain attached longer than in others, 

 and in certain species they never drop off, but gradually dry up and 

 break to pieces. « 



Until the young stem has attained its full height it is quite branch- 

 less, like a shoot of asparagus. On reaching maturity, however, the 

 sheaths fall back and the } r oung branches elongate and unfold their 

 leaves. Most large forest bamboos have no branches near the ground, 

 the first four or six nodes failing to produce them. When grown in 



«The Cultivation of Bamboos in* Japan, Trans. Asiat. Soc. Japan, Vol. XXVII, 

 Part III ? 1899, Price, 5 yen. 



