'2 



FLORA AND SYLVA. 



have held their own, and have grown with a luxuriance quite in excess of what 

 could have been hoped for. 



The summer of 1902 has subjected them to a new trial. Although the 

 rainfall has been short it has been well distributed, and at no moment have the 

 Bamboos suffered from want of moisture. On the other hand, there has been 

 little sunshine, and it is the combination of heat and rain which causes these 

 lordly grasses to grow to such superb dimensions in their native land. Some 

 of them, indeed, have made extraordinarily conspicuous growth. Arundinaria 

 japonica (Metake), A. Simoni, Phyllostachys nigra, P. Boryana, P. Henonis, and 

 some others have sent up shoots higher by a measurement of from 3 to 5 feet 

 than those of previous years, and it is fair to suppose that the growth of the 

 underground stems or rhizomes, bearing the buds which will give us next 

 year's canes, will have been proportionately vigorous. The question is, will 

 these growths, above and below the ground, have ripened sufficiently in the 

 absence of genial sunshine to enable them to resist the trials of the coming 

 winter? One feature of this last summer has been the tardy development of 

 plant life. Almost all flowers and fruits have appeared from a fortnight to a 

 month behind their usual time, and the Bamboos have formed no exception to 

 the rule. P. Quilioi^ for instance, which is always one of the last to send up 

 its shoots, is altogether behindhand. Many of the stems have not yet (Novem- 

 ber) developed their terminal leaf, and their topmost branches are still closely 

 pressed against the main culm. In that condition the first severe frosts cannot 

 fail to shrivel them up. In the case of the Arundinarias I have noticed that 

 the stem may be reckoned safe when once the terminal leaf of the main stem 

 has been developed ; but the Phyllostaches are different ; in their case the 

 terminal leaf of every branchlet must be matured for the culm to be out of 

 danger. 



The coming winters may therefore teach us some rude lessons. Not that I 

 anticipate any danger to the plants themselves, but those late shoots which the 

 cold, ungenial summer has failed to tempt out of the ground in proper time, 

 will probably fall victims should we have any severe weather. I shall be much 

 surprised if P. Quilioi and its near relations P. Castillonis and P. Marliacea 

 do not suffer in this way. And the pity of it ! For, so far as my experience 

 goes, P. Quilioi always looks as if it ought to be so much better than it is. Its 

 sluggard habit of putting forth its shoots late in the season, often not till the 

 latter half of September, causes many a promising culm to wither and perish 

 by an untimely death. But for this drawback it would be by far the largest of 

 our Bamboos, and, even so, culms 18 feet in height, with a diameter of an 

 inch and a half, are not uncommon. 



For the same reason P. mitis, which is such a feature in the gardens of the 

 Riviera, is a disappointment in the Midlands of England. Occasionally a fine 



