IS 



ftOYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, (/CEYLON BRANCH.) 



its being actually indigenous anywhere, either in the east or in 

 the west. It is, when in flower, readily distinguished from all 

 other species, it being the only one with oblong compressed 

 spiculae, the lower paleae of which are not considerably enlarged 

 at the base, combined with a long slender style divided into 

 stigmas at the extreme end, and stamens free at their base," 

 • — Munro 1. c. p. 108, This bamboo in Ceylon takes the place of 

 the large B. arundinacea in India, and is universally used for 

 scaffoldings, fences, and constructing temporary huts. Large 

 quantities of its stems are brought down the Ceylon rivers as 

 rafts, on which to float firewood and timber. This bamboo is 

 so constantly thinned out that it very seldom flowers in Ceylon. 



198. Bambusa spinosa, Pox. Hort. Beng. 25. (1814) 

 Fl. Ind. ii., p. 198. Munro. 1. c. pp. 104-5. Arundo indica 

 arborea, Barman, Theas. Zeyl. 35. B. arundinacea, Thw. En. 

 PI. Zeyl. 373. C. P. 3,320. Moon's Cat. 26., not of Retz. This 

 is the Katu-una-lee, or thorny bamboo of the Sinhalese. I 

 have seen it several times in flower near Gampola, at Lady 

 Horton's Walk, Kandy, and other parts of Ceylon. It does 

 not seem to be such a common one as B. vulgaris. 



" Culms not so hollow as in B. arundinacea, Retz, densely 

 cespitose 30 to 50 feet high or even more ; spines at the joints 

 and very generally present throughout the whole plant, triple, 

 the middle one the largest and often compound, all more or less 

 re-curved very strong and sharp, sometimes one or two absent." 



"This species is found on the mountains on the north- 

 eastern side of our Presidency and also in Ceylon, but I have 

 not seen it in our western forests ; it is best distinguished from 

 B. arundinacea in having a paler coloured, more striated panicle, 

 smaller and more coriaceous spiculae, and fewer flowers, gene- 

 rally smaller leaves which are often hairy on the outside, and 

 with the petioles sometimes much swoollen at the base," — Bed- 

 dome Flora SyL Anal. Gen., 131-2. 



