88 



SEEDS AND PLANTS IMPORTED. 



39178— Continued. 



Upper Burma, and is distributed westward to the Sutlej, though beyond Nepal 

 it is doubtfully indigenous. The culms run from 40 to as much as SO feet in 

 height and from 4 to 6 inches in diameter; the nodes are marked with root 

 scars, the internodes are 12 to 20 inches in length and the walls half an inch 

 thick. It is the common bamboo of Darjiling, the Duars, and Assam, and is 

 universally employed for all kinds of basket and mat work. For building 

 purposes it is not much esteemed. The young shoots are eaten as a vegetable, 

 and in Assam a specially prepared substance known as gass-tenga is eaten as a 

 luxury. The inner layer of the culm sheath is utilized for covering Burmese 

 cigarettes. Referring to its straggling habit, Mr. Oliver says : ' When they 

 have no trees to support them, the main stems bend over, forming impenetrablo 

 thickets, and the lateral branches ascend vertically, often forming shoots 

 nearly as long as the main stems.' Mr. Manson alludes to the value of this 

 species to the tea planters of the Darjiling district in shading their plantations 

 from hot and violent winds." {Watt, Commercial Products of India.) 



39179. Physalis peruviana L. Solanacese. Cape-gooseberry. 



From Tolga via Cairns, Australia. Presented by Mr. J. A. Hamilton. Re- 

 ceived August 25, 1914. 



39180 and 39181. Rubus sp. Rosacese. 



From Srinagar, Kashmir, India. Presented by the director, Department 

 of Agriculture. Received August 26, 1914. 



39182 and 39183. Madhuca spp. Sapotacese. Mahwa. 



From Sibpur, Calcutta, India. Presented by the superintendent, Royal 

 Botanic Gardens. Received August 24, 1914. 



" It may be said that there are two great products of these trees [formerly 

 known as Bassia latifolia, B. Jongifolia, and B. malaharica], the edible flowers 

 and the oil-bearing seeds. A gum or gutta (the milky sap hardened) flows from 

 incisions or abrasions on the stem. In some parts of the country ringing of 

 the stem is practiced just on the setting of the fruits. When this is done the 

 gum may be obtained in abundance. The bark is employed as a dye. The 

 flowers, the oil, the spirits distilled from the flowers, and the bark are all 

 used medicinally. Lastly the timber has some merit, but the trees, as a rule, 

 are too valuable to allow their being killed for this purpose. The mahua 

 [mahwa] shows its leaves from February to April. The cream-colored flowers 

 appear in great clusters (of 30 to 50) near the ends of the branches, from 

 March to April, and are soon followed by the young leaves. Preparatory to the 

 harvest of flowers* the people clear the ground below the trees by burning the 

 weeds and smoothing the soil. About March the flowers begin to come to ma- 

 turity, and every morning just after sunrise the succulent corolla tubes fall in 

 showers to the ground. This continues till the end of April, each tree yieldin.i: 

 from 2 to 4 maunds (2^ to 5 bushels) of flowers, but usually the fall from a 

 single tree is complete in about 7 to 10 days. A drying floor is prepared in a 

 position central to a selected batch of trees. The ground is smoothed aii«l 

 beaten ; on this the flowers as collected day by day are spread out to dry in 

 the sun. In a few days they shrink in size, change in color to a reddish brown, 

 and their peculiar sweet smell becomes more concentrated and the resemblance 

 to that of mice more intense. But the mahua that is intended for sale is not 



