Melocanna] CXII. GEAMINE^ 683 



hiisa taccifera^ Eoxb. Cor. PL t. 243. Vern. Muli^ Eeng. ; Tarai^ Ass. ; 

 Wafaraij Garo ; Wati, Cachar ; Kayaiing^ Arakan : Kayimca^ Tdbinclaingtcaj 

 Burm. 



EMzome with long creeping scaly branches, which turn upwards at the 

 end to form new culms. Culms distant, erect, 40-70 ft. long, the lower 

 two-thirds bare of branches, sometimes with a few short branchlets at the 

 lowest nodes, internodes 10-22 in. long, 1-3 in. diam., smooth, walls thin. 

 Buds (myetsan) small, flat. Culm-sheaths firmly coriaceous, persistent^ 

 brown, contrasting with the bright green of the young internodes, 5-7 in. 

 long, upper third wavy, not appressed to the culm, sparsely hairy outside, top 

 concavely truncate with rounded auricles, blade recurved, narrow {\ the top of 

 sheath), longer than sheath, evenly narrowed into a long convolute apex^ 

 glabrous and striate on both sides. L. 6-14 by 1-4 in., underside glaucous^ 

 glabrous or with a few scattered hairs near the base, n. 18-24 on \ in., inner 

 edge closely set with fine hairs on a broad colourless band. Transverse n. 

 visible as evenly-distributed pellucid dots, tip long acuminate with a fiat 

 brush of rigid hairs below the scabrid point, pet. \ in. long. Sheaths keeled,, 

 glabrous with ciliate edges, white soft deciduous bristles i-f in. long at mouthy 

 ligule short. 



Garo, Khasi, and Lushai hills. Chittagong forests. Forms extensive forests in 

 Arakan and the Upper Cliindwin. FL at long intervals ; Kiirz (Ind. For. i. 257) states 

 that in Arakan it fio'^'-ers every 30 to 35 years. The data at present available are as 

 follows; they are not siiiScient to justify any definite conclusions: Gaio and Khasi 

 hills, 1889, 1900, 1902. Chittagong, 1801, 1902. Arakan, 1864-1865, 1902. Bot. 

 Garden, Calcutta, 1863, 1866. The fruit is 3-4 in. long, it hangs on a short peduncle 

 clothed with sheathing bracts, and frequently germinates on the tree. 2. M. liumilis, 

 Kurz ; Gamble t. 106. Arakan. Pegu, Paunglin valley near Wanet village (Kurz). 

 Tufted 8-15 ft. high, 1. 4-6 by f-1 in., subulate-acuminate, glaucescent and min- 

 utely roughish pubescent beneath (not seen). 3. A species found by C. B. Clarke in 

 1885 on the high road from Manipiir town to Silchar, near the Irang river. There 

 was a large pure forest of this Bamboo, and he was in that forest for two days' 

 march. The culms were solitary, distant, 20 ft. high, unbranched below, but on 

 the lower nodes with sharp thorns 1-3 in. long, which rendered the forest very 

 difficult to penetrate. L. similar to those of 1, 10 by 1-1 J in., narroAved into a long 

 tip with long stiff hairs, n. 24-30 on J in., inner edge closely set wdth fine hairs on 

 a colou.rless band. This species has not been found again, since 1885 the forest 

 along that road has been jhumed twice by the Nagas. A thorny Bamboo brought 

 from that locality in 1905 is Arunclwaria callosa or near it. 



4. Tabindaing. Attaran (Manson, Dec. 1903). Branches of rhizome 4 in. diam., 

 bending upwards and terminating in a culm nearly naked in the lower part, inter- 

 nodes striped 25-30 in. long, diam. 2J in., nodes hardly swollen, walls J m. Culm- 

 sheaths sometimes green, very thick, persistent, 8-10 in. long, truncate, blade 

 reflexed, long, striate, 3 in, broad at base, decurrent on both sides into a wavy fringed 

 band |-f in. broad. L. 15-20 by 2"2| in., pale beneath and sometimes minutely 

 velvety, transverse veins visible, n. 20-25 on J in., ligule prominent. This probably 

 is the single-stemmed Bamboo mentioned on p. 50 of my Attaran Beport. (Selec- 

 tions from the Becords of the Govt, of India, Foreign I)ept. xxxii. Calcutta, 1861). 

 " Abundant in the Attaran, frequent near limestone rocks." From 31. hamhisotdes 

 this species is distinguished by the longer culm-sheaths, tightly appressed to the 

 internodes, blade broad not convolute, decurrent into a broad wavy band, tip of leaf 

 without a brush, sheath quite glabrous, ligule large. From the single-stemmed 

 Bamboos enumerated under GigantocMoa macrostachija^ it differs by larger leaves and 

 the distant longitudinal nerves. It has been mentioned under Melocanna, because an 

 entry in Herb. Kew. shows that a flowering specimen ticketed ''Falconer, Moulmein," 

 was sorted out because it was identical with a flowering specimen of Melocamna hambti- 

 soides fromHort. Bot. Calc, and this possibly was the single-stemmed Attaran Bamboo. 

 It is not mentioned in Falconer's Eeport on the Attaran Forests. Kurz (F. Fl. ii. 

 570) and Gamble mention Tenasserim as a locality of Melocavna hamhu&oides. 



Here may be mentioned a single-stemmed Bamboo (Tabindaing) found by me in 

 March 1859, in the upper Salween forests, of w^hich I have no specimens, but a 

 description with sketch in my Notes.— Culms very tall, branches from the lower nodes 

 simple, stiff, leafless, in dense half-whorls, the upper part of the culm with leaf-bearing 

 branches- Internodes 12-16 in. long, 3-4^ in. diam,, node-rings horizontal. Sheaths 

 glabrous outside, ciliate on the edges, deciduous. 20 in. long, top truncate. L, 5 by 

 J in., glaucous beneath. 



