80 ANNALS OP THE EOTAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA,
i s small, with narrow, very hard, nearly solid culms, small of t en hairy exilm-slicaihs,
and short leaves ; while in Burma, in Bengal, and in moister localities in South India,
the culms are much larger, the culm-sheaths longer and stouter, and the leaves longer.
I t is very easily grown cither from seed or from root offsets, and the culms take
Ô years to form clumps in favourable localities. On its gi'ovvth and cultivation, Colonel
Doveton's excellent paper in ^Indian Forester,^ vol. ix, p. 529, may be consulted. Tho
f o l l o w i n g account of its uses in the Central Provinces (and indeed the remarks apply
r e a l l y to all places in India %Yhen it is the principal species) is worth quoting from
that p a p e r : — " T h i s bamboo is used for rafters and battens, spear and lance-shafts,
" w a l k i n g sticks, whip handles, stakes to support sugarcane, fur the manufacture of
" s m a l l mats used like slates in roofing, mats for floors, covers of carts, sieves, hand
''punkahs, umbrellas, light chairs and sofas, vessels for holding grease and oil, bows,
" arrows and cordage, and for the manufacture of many other minor articles. It is
" a l s o used for tlie buoynge of heavy timbers in rafting, and when converted into
"charcoal, is in request for tlie finer smith's work. Dry stems are also used for
" t o r c h e s , and the production of fire by friction. The loaves are much sought after
" as food for buffaloes and are fairly good fodder for horses. The seed is used in
" t i m e s of famine as food grain, and while wheat sold at 12 seers for the rupee,
" bamboo seed sold at from 40 to 50 seers. It will probably come into use for the
" c o n s o l i d a t i o n and support of embankments."
PxATE No. 68.—Dendrocalamtis siriclas, Nees ; the larger leaf- and flower-bearing
v a i i e t y . 1, leaf-branch ; 2, part of flower-panicle,—of natural size ; 3, culm-sheath—
reduced to about \ ; 4, spikolet ; 5, flowering glume ; 6, paloa ; 7, anther ; 8, ovary and
s t y l e ; 9 , 1 0 caryopsis ; 11 leaf-sheath—enlarged. (1 to 9 from a specimen gathered by
myself in the Northern Circars, 10, H from Dehra Dun specimens.)
PLATE NO. ^^.—Dmirocalamus strictus, Nees ; t h e smaller leaf- and flower-bearing
variety of the Dcccan and Carnatic. 1, leaf-branch ; 2, part of flower-panicle—of natural
sise; 3, culm-sheath—reduced; 4, spikelet—enlarged (all from my Madras specimens); A,
spikelct of the variety (var. Frainiana) from T a b l e Island, Great Cocos ; characterized by
smaller spikelets, fewer flowers and nearly glabrous flowering glumes.
( T h e excellent figure by Fitch in Brandis' Forest Flora shows almost better
ihan either of these two Plates the most usual form and sizo of the flower-heads.
The fig. 80 of Roxburgh's Coromandel Plants is a poor one, but represents, in my
opinion, this species and not, as Munro says, Oxijtmanlhera Tkmilesii. The spikelet
clearly shows separate and not monadelphous stamens.)
2. DENDROCALAiiL'S SEBiciins, Munro in Trans. Linn. See. xxvi, 148.
A densely tufted bamboo with strong culms resembling those of D. strictus. Culm-
¡heaths striate, long-ciliate on the edges, covered with stiff bristles with swollen bases;
imperfect Made short, triangular, acute. Leaves lanceolate, long acuminate, 5 to 15 in.
long, -7 to 1 in. broad, usually rounded at the base into a longish petiole; hairy or
hispid above, hairy beneath, scabrous on the edges; point long, t w i s t e d ; main vein
prominent beneath, shining, seconrlary veins 6 or 7 pairs, intermediate about 7 ; leaf-
.fkcaths striate, somewhat keeled, strigosely, hairy in lines down tlie sides, ending in a
c i l i a t e truncate callus ; Kjidc narrow, fimbriate, serrate. Injlorcscenee a large panicle
IKDIAN ]3AMBUSE.^E; GAMJ3LE. o I
with stout branches bearing distant globular heads 1-5 to 2 in. apart and supported by
glabrous or sparsely hairy triangular bracts ; racliis rounded, striate, hairy above. Spikelets
spinescent, acute, densely silky, hairy, the fertile intermixed with many small sterile
ones, -3 to '4: in. long, with 3 to 3 fertile flowers ; empty glumes 2, blunt, many-nerved,
d e n s e l y silky on the edges and upper part outside, glabrous within; flowering glume ovateacute,
or ending in a long, sharp spine and bearded with silky iiairs below it ; palea
acute or emavginate, that of lower flowers 2-keeled, ciliate on the keels and hairy on
the wings, glabrous and S-nerved between the keels, that of the uppermost flower long,
acute, rounded on the back, not keeled, silkily hairy at the tip, about 9-nerved.
Stamens a2jparently little exserted; anthers yellow, bluntly apiculate and sometimes
minutely penicillate. Ovanj narrowly ovoid, gradually passing into a long haii-y slyU
ending in a purple plumose stigma. Caryopsis not known.
Summit of Mount Parasnáth, Chota Nagpore, Bengal, at 4,000 feet, where it has
been collected by Hooker, Thomson and Kurz, the two latter finding flowers in 1858
and 1871 (?). It is not known from any other locality.
As remarked by Munro, this spccies has very f e w definite characters to distinguish
it from D. strictus, but it has a distinct appearance owing to tlic spreading silky
pubescence on the spikelets. I do not find tho uppermost palea to be k e e l e d as Munro
describes it, and I consider the blunt anther tips, more pointed palem, and less depressed
ovary the best characters; for I have seen some Chota Nagpore specimens of D. strictus
which come near it in the pubescence.
PLATE NO. 70.—Dendrocalamus sericeus, Munro. 1, loaf-branch; 2, j^art of flowerp
a n i c l e , — o / natural size; 3, spikelet ; 4 & 5, floweriiig glume ; 6, palea of lovrer
flowers ; 7, palea of uppermost iiowers; 8, anther ; 9, ovai-y—enlarged. (All fi'oni
Tho)Usou's specimens.)
3. DiiNnKOC.lLAlius MiCMBEASACEUS, Munro in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvi. 149.
A modei'ate-sizcd strong-growing bamboo forming loose clumps. Ctilms very straight,
60 to 70 ft. high, up to 4 in. in diameter, when young covered with white powdery
deciduous scurf, green when old; nodes sti-ongly ringed; those near the base bearing rootl
e t s ; internodes 9 to 15 in. long; upper branches tliin, droo^nng, l e a f y . Ctdm-shcaths
longer than the internodes, 12 to 20 in. long, 5 to 8 in. broad, glabrous outside or
with appressed dark brown stiff hairs, narrowed i n the upper thii-d i n t o a dark brown, waved,
f r i n g e d auricle to ^\•hich the impafect hlade is attached ; imperfect Hade long, narrow,
reflexed, with brown hairs on both sides, but especially within at the base, 12 to 16 in.
l o n g by aboiit 1 in. broad, tapering t o a point; ligule up to '4 in. long, hairy w i t h i n and
roughly serrate. Leaves ou slender branchlets, thin, pale, lanceolate, o to 10 in. long,
•5 to '8 in. broad, rounded or attenuate at the base into a short petiole finely twisted,
acuminate, hispid above, haiiy on the midrib beneath, retrorsely scabrous on the
maru'ins; main vein prominent, glabrous, secondary veins 4 to 7 pairs, intermediate 7 t o 9 ;
leafsheaihs striate, ending in a callus, cleft nearly to the base, falcate-auricled and with
long purplish ciliie, very white-hairy when y o u n g ; li(/ule obtuse, very short, hairy
within, longer and ciliate in young seedling specimens. Inflorescence a large compound
panicle with distant globular heads, 1 to 2 in. apart ; rachia glabrous or often
.white-pruinosc in the upper part, heads -7 to 1 in. in diameter, spinescent. Spikelets
A.NN. EOY. BOT. GAKE. CALCUTTA, VOL. T I I .