8 BULLETI]S" 1329^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE 
Branches borne in pairs from the nodes, eacii alternate branch being larger 
and longer than the one below : leaves varying in size, 4 to S inches long, 
one-half to three-quarters of an inch wide, bright green above, grayish below, 
edges sharply serrated on one side with 5 to 7 secondary nerves on either side 
of the midrib. 
The giant timber bamboo promises to be one of our most valuable 
forms. It is hardy and from the evidence at hand will succeed 
well in suitable soil and under proper care in all South Atlantic 
and Gulf Coast States: also in portions of southern Arkansas, 
California, and Oregon. It is a comparativeh^ rapid grower and 
spreads easily and quickly by means of its extensively creeping 
rhizomes. 
STAKE AND FORAGE-CROP BAMBOO 
{Phijllostacliys nevinii Hance) 
In the spring of 1907 the late Frank N. Meyer, Agricultural Ex- 
plorer, collected a number of hardy dwarf bamboos in the vicinity of 
Peking, China. Later in the same year he collected 8 or 10 addi- 
tional bamboos near Tangsi, about 800 miles south of Peking, These 
bamboos were assembled at Shanghai and kept there until the spring 
of 1909, when Mr. Meyer brought them to this country and placed 
them in the Plant Introduction Garden at Chico, Calif. Among 
the collections made w^ere two lots, doubtless from North China, 
which have borne separate plant-introduction inventory numbers 
and have been grown and distributed as distinct forms. These are 
S. P. I. Nos. 23233 and 23261. The descriptions of these forms sent 
in by Mr. Meyer were meager, and their behavior here does not 
conform to the published notes. For this reason one of the forms, 
S. P. I. No. 23233, was given a new number, S. P.^I. No. 55713, and 
the description was modified to indicate the size of the plant. 
It would appear from a careful study of these two forms that they 
are identical and except for their dwarfish habits resemble somewhat 
PhylJostachys ocmibitsoides. The stake and forage-crop bamboo 
has two characters deserving special notice. These are the freedom 
of the plant from the attacks of a mite, a small, almost microscopic 
creature introduced from Japan which has given the department 
much trouble, and its apjDarent ability to resist a rust, a new fungous 
parasite related to the rust on wheat which appeared at Brooks- 
ville three or four years ago and has spread rapidly. PhyUosfachys 
hauibusoides is badly attacked by both of these enemies, while P. 
nevinii is mostly free from mite infestation and shows no evidence 
of rust, although growing in close proximity to badh^ rusted plants 
of P. hamhiisoides. Other characters would lead to the belief that in 
these two forms there is a distinct species, first described b}^ Hance 
in 1876. (PL III.) 
For a number of years one of these bamboos, S. P. I. Nos. 23233 
and 23234, has been carried in the department records as PhylJo- 
stachys nevinii hujjehensis Rendle. This is now believed to be an 
error', as S. P. I. Nos. 23233 and 23261 conform more closely to 
the rather meager descriptions of the true P. neriniK while S. P. I. 
No. 23234 does not agree with either of the descriptions. 
The two forms have been grown and ])ropagated by the Office 
of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction for 15 years and have been 
rather widely distributed. PhyUosfachys nevinii (S. P. I. No. 
