12 BULLETIN" 132&^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGEICULTUEE 
The variegation is probably an element of weakness, so that to find 
the form as aggressive and vigorous as its parent would not be 
expected. It likely will not have any special value for commercial 
purposes but may prove useful in other ways, which will be pointed 
out later. 
CALCUTTA- FISH-ROD BAMBOO 
{Bnmljos tulda Roxb.) 
This is one of the most striking and useful of all the bamboos, 
but unfortunately it stands but little frost and can be grown suc- 
cessfully only in the warmer parts of the United States. There are 
large tracts on the west coast of Florida south of Tampa where this 
bamboo ought to prove successful. It should thrive also in other 
parts of Florida soutli of latitude 28 where the soil is suitable and 
rainfall abundant. The plant may be grown readily from seeds, ■ 
which is a great advantage in establishing plantations quickh^ At 
the Brooksville Plant Introduction Garden this bamboo has done 
fairly well, although injured some by frost nearl}^ every year. 
(PL VII, fig. 1.) One year, 1916, nearly 6 bushels of seeds were 
obtained from India, and notwithstanding certain quarantine re- ^ 
strictions which made it necessary to hold the seed seven or eight 
months, most of ^it grew when planted. 
Bavibos tidda'h.aiS been known for nearly a himdred years, having 
been described first in 1832 as occurring in India (i^, p. 193). It 
has been widely distributed, especially in all the warmer regions 
of the earth. Beautiful and striking plantings of this species occur 
in the Canal Zone. Henry Nehrling has grown some fine specimens 
at Gotha, Fla. In 1917 and 1918 culms of this bamboo reached a 
height of 65 feet on Mr. Nehrling's place but were frozen to the 
ground. This variety differs from m.any other bamboos in that the 
culms are nearly solid and very heavy. On a plat at Brooksville 
where the culms are 14 to 16 feet high, the yield was estimated at 
35 to 40 tons per acre. (PI. VII, fig. 2.) 
J. S. Gamble has given such an excellent description of this bam- 
boo (5, p. 30) that we quote the same in full: 
An evergreen or deciduous, c^espitose, arboreous, gregarious bamboo. Culms 
green or glabrous when young, gray-green when older, sometimes streaked 
with yellow, 20 to 70 feet high, 2 to 4 inches in diameter; nodes not swollen, 
tiie lower ones fibrous-rooted ; iuternodes 1 to 2 feet long, wliite-scurfy when 
very young, ringed with white below the nodes; branches many from nearly 
all nodes, those of lowest ones thin, nearl^v leafless, horizontal. Culm sheaths 
about 6 to 9 inches long, 6 to 10 inches broad, smooth or whitish powdered 
or covered with appressed brown hairs without, often white-powdered w^ith- 
in ; slightly attenuate upwards and rounded or triangularly truncate at top ; 
imperfect blade broadly triangular, reniform or cordate, cuspidate, erect, 
hairy within, the base decurrent into rounded, large, long-fringed auricles, or 
a wavy narrow-fringed band along the upper edge of the sheath : ligule narrow, 
entire. Leaves linear-oblong or linear-lanceolate, G to 10 inches long by 0.7 
to 1,5 inches broad ; usually rounded at the base into a short 0.1 inch, often 
hairy petiole; acuminate above in a subulate twisted point; glabrous above, 
except for the scabrous veins near the margin on one side, glaucescent and 
puberulous beneath ; scabrous on the edges ; main vein rather narrow, sec- 
ondary veins 6 to 10, intermediate 7 to 8, pellucid glands faint, scanty; leaf , 
sheath striate, glabrous, ending in a smooth callus and an oblong rounded ^ 
auricle, fringed with long, thin, whitish bristles ; ligule narrow, inconspicuous. 
Inflorescence variable, sometimes an iiiniionse radical leafless panicle, some- 
times a short leafy paniculate or spicate branch; branches spicate, bearing 
