6 BULLETIN 1329, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE 
systematic studies of tliese plants. Camus (2) admits that the de- 
scriptions are far from complete and that there are necessarily many 
duplications of names, owing to the absence of characters that are 
constant and available. 
Recognizing the fact that bamboos are in a class by themselves, 
and that for the most of their lives they present vegetative charac- 
ters only, attemj^ts have been made to develop a system of classifica- 
tion based largely on vegetative parts, such as the culm sheath, an 
organ which, as the name indicates, is attached to the culm or stalk ; 
the culms themselves (that is, their shape, size, and methods of 
growth) ; kinds of nodes or joints; the branches and branchlets; and 
the leaves and leaf attachments. 
When beginning to study bamboos critically one finds that while 
their vegetative characters are helpful in a general way they can not 
be depended upon to separate the multitude of forms which have 
developed through centuries of vegetative selection in the older parts 
of the world, where bamboos have been grown and used from time 
immemorial. Then, again, bamboos will vary greatly vegetatively, 
according to their environment. Rich soils and poor soils, clay soils 
and sandy soils, wet soils and dry soils all modify growth and even 
the shape, size, and appearance of culms, sheaths, branches, and 
leaves. The vegetative differences are more marked in the young 
shoots as they come through the ground. It is at this time that 
differences may be noted that later disappear. Some of these are 
shown in Plate I, in which eight kinds of bamboo shoots are repro- 
duced from a photograph. Particular attention is called to the 
shape, size, coloring or spotting, smoothness or hairiness, and vari- 
ous appendages of the culm sheaths. It is bv critical comparative 
studies of these parts, together with studies of the full-grown culms 
or stalks, the leaves, and the branches and branchlets, that specialists 
may be able to separate the more important members of the multitude 
of forms found growing in different parts of the world, and par- 
ticularly in China and Japan. Most of the readei^ of this bulletin 
will not be concerned with these details ; the few who are especially 
interested should consult the comparatively recent work of Houzeau 
de Lehaie (8) , who has gone into this subject quite fully. 
The bamboos that seem likely to play an economic part in future 
work in the United States are few in number. This does not include 
a considerable collection of ornamental species and forms, whicli 
must also have consideration, but in a different way from those 
likely to be grown in large areas and utilized for many domestic 
and commercial purposes. 
CULTURAL TYPES 
The cultural characters of some of the more important bamboos 
tested during the past 15 or 20 years and found adapted to the cli- 
mate and soil of our South Atlantic, Gulf Coast, and certain of the 
Pacific Coast States will be described liere. Naturally, a large num- 
ber of tropical and subtropical forms are excluded, as they can not 
withstand our winters. The field of promising and potentially eco- 
nomic l)amboos, therefore, is limited to a comparatively few species 
and forms found mostly in those .jMrts of China and Japan corre- 
sponding in climate to the regions indicated above. This statement 
I 
