276 journal oe the royal horticultural society. 



garden ornament. I am strongly inclined [to think that both 

 P. Castillonis and P. rugosa or Marliacea are garden forms of 

 P. Quilioi. 



Phyllostacliys heterocycla, the tortoiseshell Bamboo, I take 

 to be simply a deformity of Phyllostacliys mitis, caused by the 

 repressive action of stiff soil, which forces the growing internodes 

 in a soft state back upon themselves from side to side, until they 

 reach freedom in the open air, when the remainder of the culm 

 resumes its natural aspect. The same deformity may be observed 

 in similar circumstances in the case of Phyllostacliys aurea. I 

 found it myself in plants of P. aurea growing in very stiff soil at 

 Grasse, on the Riviera. I have not seen it or heard of it in any 

 other species. The more slender stems of P. aurea, when they 

 present this appearance, are valued as walking sticks, umbrella 

 handles, and for other trifles. Their quaintness gives them the 

 charm of curiosity. If you will take the trouble to look at these 

 two specimens, P. heterocycla and P. aurea, showing the same 

 tortoiseshell-like armour, I think my meaning will be plain to 

 you. I may here say that the so-called tortoiseshell Bamboo of 

 commerce is not P. heterocycla, but a cane of any bamboo 

 artificially coloured by burning. 



Bambusa quadrangular is is used for walking sticks and 

 umbrella handles, and for the manufacture of fancy articles, 

 pipe-stems, &c. It is almost certainly not indigenous in Japan, 

 but introduced from China through the Liukiu Islands. Dr. 

 MacGowan, writing to "Nature" February 8, 1886, says: "It 

 grows wild in the north-eastern portion of Yunnan, on the 

 sequestered mountains of Takuan Ting and Chen Hsing Chou, to 

 which in spring men, women, and children resort for cutting its 

 shoots, which they tie in bundles and send to market. It is 

 prized above all other bamboo shoots as an esculent " ("Nature," 

 xxxiii. 1886, p. 560). There is a most interesting account of this 

 species published by Mr. Thiselton Dyer in " Nature " xxxii. 1885, 

 p. 391, from which I take the following quotation from a com- 

 munication of Dr. MacGowan. "Its anomalousness is attributed 

 by the Chinese to supernatural powers — occult agencies varying 

 with each district. The Ning-po Gazetteer tells how Ko Kung, 

 the most famous of alchemists, fourth century a.d., thrust his 

 chopsticks, slender bamboo rods pared square, into the ground of 

 the spiritual monastery near that city, which, by thaumaturgical 



