60 ANNALS OF THE EOYAL BOTANIC GAEDEK, CALCUTTA.
graceful, iiale panicle, with many thin branchlets, bearing braeteate clusters o£ £ow
fertile spikelets, which arc pcdicellato and intermixed with sterile ones ; the bract boatshaped,
glabrous, truncate at t i p ; rachis snjooth, very fine, w y , cui-ved, clavatc. Spikelei
nearly white, bearing 1 empty glume, tlion ¿i flowers, the uppermost of which alone bears
fruit, then a narrow produced racldlla, with a minute rudimeirt of a flower ; emft)
ijimmt -3 to -4 in. long, ovate-acute, covered at the base with long white pubescence,
about 4-nerved on cither side ; prnering ghme similar but longer, pubescent below only
and at the tip, and about 7-8-nerved on either side ; falta of lower flowers narrow,
2-keeled, ciliate on the keels, cleft half-way down into uaiTow ciliate tails, that of
uppermost flower not keeled, but bimucionate, concave, striate, glabrous, gradually
attenuate into a long beak, longer than the flowering glume. Zoilicuks none. Sfamm
oisertcd, filaments free, anthers pale yellow, narrow, connective produced into a conical
purple muero. Oiiaf) at first oval, afterwards depressed, flattened, attenuated suddenly
into a narrow glabrous itstc, suimomited by 1 to 3 plumose curved sHsmas. Canjapsis
•2 in long by '1 in. broad, eylindric, surmounted by a yellowish, glabrous, soft
anex wUeh is produced in a long beak, sulcate on one side, embryo prominent on
t t o " other. BAMBUSA. siiJlEnsis, Knn MS. BAÍIISOSÍ EEGIA, I/umm,; Mm,-o in Tmm.
Linn Soc. sxvi. 116.
Burma from Mandalay do^n to Tenasserim: collected by Brandis (No. 12) on
t h e Salween river; by J. W. Oliver in Kyaukso and Meiktila districts; Siam,
collected by Kurz. Cultivated in the Boyal Botanic Garden, Calcutta; and, since
its flowering and seeding there in 1892, elsewhere.
Dr G King describes this as being one o£ the most graceful bamboos known.
Brandis qiioted hy Hunro, says: "this is a most elegant bamboo, on account of the
" regularity of the nodes," and that it is largely brought to Moulmem and used for
umbrella handles. The description of B. regia, Thomson, by Munro in Tram. Lmn.
Soc xsvi 116, clearly refers to this plant, but the specimens marked by Kurz
J3 ' regia ' T. Thomson, in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta
f B r a n d i s ' ' K o ' 379 from YSnzalin, 1863; and Kurz' No. 152 from the Karon country),
L l o n ' ^ to Dendrocalamus membranaoeus, Mran-o, and with the doubt whether the name
namblsa regia, T. Thomson, really was meant for this species, I prefer to adhere to the
specific name siamensis. It is easUy distinguished fi-oin T. OUveri by its much smaller
j z e iu almost all respects. Excellent specimens of the leaves and sheaths have been
received from J. W. Oliver, Conservator of Forests in Upper Burma, who calls it Tii/owa
f B i x r m ) - t h e "Umbrella-handled bamboo"; and from Mr. Lane-Ryan, Extra Assistant
Conservator of Forests, who gives it the samo name and also that of Eyamg-wa,
t h e latter name meaning 'Monastery bamboo.' It is reported to bo commonly
cultivated in monastery gardens in nearly all the villages of the Kyaukso and
i l c i k t i l a districts, and the culms are sometimes used for making the liandles of large
umbrellas of State for which they are extremely well adapted, being light and strong
and straight.
PLATE NO. bl.~Thjrsosiachys siammm, Gamble. 1, leaf-branch; 2, flowering branch—
of natural she; 3, c u l m - s h e a t h — ; 4, spikelet; 5, empty glume; 6, flowering
Mume • 7 8, P^^ea of lower flowers; 9 & 10, palca of upper flowers; 11,
anther'; 12 & 13, ovary, style and stigmas; 14 & 15, c a r y o p s i s - e n l a r g e d . (All
f r om Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta, specimens.)
ISDIAN BAMDTJSE^'Ei GAM13LE.
5. Gigantochloa, Kurs.
Large arboroscont or scandent bamboos. Culms usually tall, not branched at tlie
base. Ciilm-skealhs generally stiff, hairy above, smooth below, auricled. Leavts
rather large, long, usually attenuate at the base. Inflorescence a large compound
panicle with long spicate branches bearing heads of spikelets. Spikelets usually few,
often of two kinds, fertile and sterile, oblong or linear; fertile flowers several. Empirj
¡¡hnm 2 to 3. Flowering glumes similar to empty glumes. Falecc of all flowers
S-kceled, keels ciliate. Lodicitlcs 3 or less, often none. Siamnni G, filaments joined
into a tube which at first is tliick and short, and afterwards elongate, membranous-
Ovarg hairy, style elongate, stigmas 1 to 3, hairy. Canjopsis usually oblong or narrow,
linear, generally furrowed, pcricarp membranaceous.
DISTUIB.—The eight species here described are all from Burma and the Malay
Peninsula, one only extending northwards to Chittagong and Assam. Besides tliese eight,
ther« are two more in Java and other islands of the Indian Arcliipelago, viz. G. Atter,
Kurz, G. apiis, Kurz, and G. rohcsta, Kurz. The first is a splendid species and has
two varieties—one with green, the other with purple brown culms (var. nigra), both of
which are growing in the Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta; the other two species are
not at all well known.
Analysis of the species.
Spikelets roiuided, oblong.
Spikelets small, ;uidei' "4 in., glabrous I- G. veriiciHata.
Spikelets large, over'4 in., hairy 2. (?. Soortechinii.
Spikelets narrow, acute, cylindrical.
Leaf Eg\iles short.
Edges of glumes blaek-eiliate.
Spikelets very long, palea ciliate 3- macrostaahya.
Spikelets long, palea not ciliate 4. ff. Wrayi.
Edges of glumes pale-ciliate, spikelets long 5. G. Kursii.
Edges of glumes not ciliate, glabrous 6. (?. heteroslachya.
Leaf ligules long '-m^ata.
Spikelets flattened, large 8- lati^piculaia.
1. GIO.\NTOCIILOA VEETIC:LLATA, Munro in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvi, 124.
A very large tufted bamboo. Culms 80 to 100 ft. high, 4 to 5 in. in
diameter, greyish-green when old, light green striped with narrow tliiu stripes of
yellow when young, mealy at first and bearing closely appressed stiff light brown
deciduous haii-s; nodes haii-y, not prominent; intemodes 18 in. long, walls rather thin.
Culm-sheaths large, crisp, 12 in. long by as much or more in breadth, rounded gradually
to a mouth 1 to 1"5 in. broad bearing on either side small rounded, auricles fringed with
a few stifl: cilia), produced at the margins beyond the auricles to meet the ligule ; inner
sm'face shining, glabrous, outer densely covered with golden brown stiff hairs ; imperfect
blade short, ovate, acuminate, hairy -R-itliin, recurved, slightly decurrent in a narrow edge