ANNALS OF THE EOYAL BOTANIC GAKDEN, CALCUTTA.
slightly conipresseil, glossy, nearly glabrous, ' i to '5 in. long by '1 to -2 in. broad,
with 3 to 3 fertile flowers; (/liimea 2, ovate, blunt or acute; Jlowering glumes
ovate, often ciliate on the edges, nnicronate, striate, glabrous; palea as long as
flowering glnmes, rather blunt, those of lower flowers lieilcd, ciUate on the keels and
3-ner\'ed between them, that <.f uppermost flower rounded and nearly glabroiis, fewnerved,
acute. jStameiiS exserted, filaments long, tine; ani/ccrs yellow, shortly apicalate.
Ovirg ovoid, hairy above, glabrous below, ovate, produced into a long hairy stgle ending
in a purple plumose sfiiima. Ciirfjrrpsis broadly ovate, roimded at base, '2 to -3 in. long,
grooved on one side and somewhat flattened, ending in a sharp point formed by the
persistent base of the style; embryo distinct. Km-s Far, FL Burma ii. 560.
Moist forests and low ground in Eastern Burma down to Tenasseiim. It has been
collected in Martaban by Wallicb in 1827"; in the Yonzalin valley by Brandis in 1857
and 1862 • in Tenasseiim by Beddomc in 1879 ; in the Yomas by Kiirz in 1871 ; and in
the Wuntho and pinhwe forests b y J . W. Oliver in 1890.
I n its inflorescence, this species resembles glabrous forms of D. stricim, and may
easily be mistaken for it. It is, however, at once distingiushable by the nearly glabrous
spikelets, tliinncr le ives, less rounded at the base, culm-sheaths with waved hairy auricles
and recurved apical leaf and more elongate grooved caiyopsis. It is used in building.
The Bmniese names vary, for Iviirz calls it Wa-i/a, Brandis Wa-gai, wamu, and Oliver Wajigu.
P l a t e Ko. 71.—Vendrocalamits maiibrajiaceus, Mimro. 1, leaf-branch; 3, part of
flower-panicle—e/ natitral siso ; 3, cuhn-sheath—reduced; 4, spikelet ; o, palea, stamens
and pistil; 6, palea of lower flower; 7, palea of upper flower; 8, ovary and style; 9,
c a i y o p s i s — 1 0 , leaf-sheatb of scedhiig plant (from plant grown fiom Burma
seed); 11, leaf-slieath of older plant (all, except 10, f i om Brandis and Kurz' Burma
specimens J.
4. Dendkocalamus SIKKIMES5IS, GcimhU in Hmher Ic. Plani. t. 1770.
A large bamboo with ciespitosc stems and few culms. Culms large, 50 to CO and more
feet high, naked below, branched above, 5 to 7 in. in diameter, dark green; nodes
ringed 'iiiterwides 18 in. long rough; walls 15 in. thick. Culm-sheatJa largo, 12 in. long
b y 15 in. broad, densely covered wil,h a dark golden brown felt of matted stiff hairs,
broad at the top ; imferject blade lauceolate, variable, usually as long as the sheath, 3 to
3 in broad, recuiwed, hairy on both faces and decurrent on each side into a large
recurved falcate auricle which is fringed with long (often nearly 1 in.) curved, flbrous,
pale bristles; ligule about -3 in. broad, glabrous, sharply serrate. Leaven variable in size,
those of ordinary branches 8 to 10 in. l.mg by 1-5 to 2 in. broad, unequal sided,
oblong-lanceolate, acuminate in a twisted black tip; rounded at the base into a short,
thick°petiolo; smooth above, strigosely hirsute and rough below, edges scabrous; main
vein prominent, secondary veins not prominent, usually about 10 pairs: those of young
plants aiid shoots elliptie-acaminate up to 13 in. long and 3 in. broad ; main vein rather
prominent, secondary veins 12 pairs, intermediate 7 ; lenJ-sJxaths smooth, glabrous,
shining, ending in a small ciliate callus and furnished at the edges with falcate hairy
auriclcs fringed vith stiff bristles; ligule short, hairy,, often long-fringed or fimbriate.
Jvfcreseence a large panicle with stifi nodose branches, bearing large red-brown globose
beads usually 3 in. apart and 1-5 in. in diameter ; raehis dull bromi, faintly pubescent.
Sfitekts lanceolate, somewhat blunt, -5 to -7 in. long; emptg glamei 3 to 4, oval,
INDIAN BAMBUSEiE ; GAMBLE. 83
rounded, Itealed and ciliate on the keels, otherwise glabrous; fertile flowers 3 to 3 ;
flmtriiig glume ovate, acute, glabrous, mucronate, ciliate on the edges; palm of lower
flowers 2-keeled, densely shaggy on the keels and blunt, sometimes slightly bifid at
t h e tip, many-veined; palea of uppermost flower not keeled, acute, hairy at tip, manyveined;
final flower sterile, reduced to a thin, papery glume. Staimm exserted, yellow (?),
acute. Omrg sub-globular, hairy, with a short, thick, hairy stgb and club-shaped hairy
stijma. Cmgepm obovate-depressed, apiculate, shining above with a few hairs, wrinkled
below. Gardener's Ohronide 6lh June 1890 and 3rd December 1892.
Hills of the Kortli-East Himalaya in Sikkim and Bhutan, 4,000 to 6,000 feet- and at
Tura Peak, Garo Hills, at 3,000 feet. Also cultivated in the Calcutta Botanic Garden,
at Perademya in Ceylon, in the Kilgiris and elsewhere from seed cojlected by 11. Pantling
in 1885. Also grown in the Eoyal Gardens, Kew; at Castlewellan, Comity Down and
other places m Europe. Our flowering specimens are due to Jlr. Pantling's energy.
THs beautiful bamboo is the largest in Sikkim, where it has bigger cäms than those
of D. HamUtonii, and is the one preferred by Lepchas and Bhutias for makin»- the
' c h u n g a s ' for carrying water and milk, and for charning butter. It is known to the
Lepchas by the name of Pngriang and to the Garos as Wadah (G. Mann). The leaves
are said to be poisonous to cattle in Sikkim, and specimens sent for identification
in 1893 to Mr. J. F. Duthie os having caused death to horses who had eaten some
from the same clump, proved to belong to this species. Mr. Mann's splendid Tura
specimens show the ligules as not fringed, but tho imperfect blades bearing beautiful
long-fringed auricles. The species is readily distinguished by its largo flower heads
densely velvety felted stem-sheath and the long-ciliate auricles of tho leaf-sheaths.
P l a t e No. li.—Dndncalanus sikhlmemis, Gamble. 1, leaf-branch; 3, part of flowerpanicle—
o/ natural me; 3, cuhn-sheath (old); 4, apex of stem-sheath from youno- shoots—
reduced-, 5, spikelet ; 6, spikelet, ojien ; 7, palea of lower flowers ; 8, palea of upper
floivers; 9, anther; 10, ovary will, stylo and stigma; 11 & 12, caryopsis with section—
enlarged. (Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6, S, 9, 10 from PL,te 1770 of Hooker's leones Plantarum; No. 3
t o m Mr. G. Mann's Garo Hüls specimen; rest from specimens of Mr. Pantling's collecting.)
6. Desdkocalamus Hooiceki, Munro in. Trans, Linn, See. xxvi. 151.
A large bamboo with coespitoso stems and long curving branches. Culms large,
50 to 00 ft. high, usually naked below, much-branched above, 4 to 6 in. "in
diameter, dark green, lower intomodes somewhat rough hairy, walls about 1 in
thick ; inteniodes 18 to 20 in. long. Cuhn-shealhs large, very broad at basé
when old, narrower in younger stems or on the upper branches, about 16 in. broad
at base, 8 to 12 in. long, densely covered with black or brown hairs outside
glabrous inside, narrowed above to 2 to 3 in. where tho imperfect blade is inserted
and funiished with small rounded auricles covered with long stiff cilioe, edges ciliate'
imfcrfeet Made rounded at baso, triangular-cuspidate above or elongate-cuspidate, 3 to 7
in. long, hairy above, glabrous below ; ligule -2 to -3 in. long, glabrous, sharply' seiTate.
Leaves large, rounded at base into a very short; petiole, somewhat unequal-sided
oblong-lanceolate, with a long twisted, hispid, acuminate tip ; smooth above rou»h
below, and with scattered hairs near the base, scabrous on the edges • main ve"in
very prominent, yellow, shining, secondary veins 8 to 16 pairs, conspicuous, ¡„termediate
usually 7 to 8, with pcllucid dots between, bars like transverse veinlets