8 6 ANNALS OF THE EOTAL BOTANiO GAEDEN, CALCUTTA.
ciilai-sheath is used for eovei'ing Buvmeso cigarettes. This baDiboD flowers usually sporadically,
so that clumps in fioM'er may almost always be found; and consequently it lias
been largely and often collected: at the same time, like other spccies, it sometimes
ilowers gregariously as it is doing this year (180i) both in Sikkim and in Dehra
Dun. Of its straggling habit, so noticeable in the forests of Bengal and Burma, but
cmiously much less BO in the Diiu, J. "W. Oliver remarks, "When they have no trees to
support them, the main stems bend over, forming impenetrable thickets, and the lateral
branches asceiid vertically, often fonning shoots nearly as long as the main stems."
This specics is very easily identified by its paniclcs of bright purple-red flowers;
aud when out of flower the grey stems, long nearly glabrous stem sheaths and straggling
habit cause it to bo easily recognized. The long haiiy points to the anthers are also
remarkable.
PLA-TE No. 74.—Dendrocalavius Uamiltonii, Noes, aird Am. 1, loaf-branch; 2, part
of floweriug panicle—p/ natural size; 3, s t e m - s h e a t h — ; 4, spikelet; 5, flowering
glume; t3, paloa of lower flowers; 7, palca of uppermost flower; 8, anther; 9, ovaiy
and style with trifld stigma; 10, the same, older; 11, caiyopsis; 12, Icaf-sheath—all
enlarged, No 4 many times. (All from my own Sikkim specimens.)
VAR. /S. edulis, Munro, is a well-marked variety distinguished by the larger,
more fistular internodes to the paiiicle, mucli Jai'gor and more congested,
often long-bracteate heads, spikelets with more numerous
flowers and bigger aud broader leaves. It is common in the Darjceling
Hills, and is distinguished from the type by the natives,
who call it Yim-yot-pao (Lepcha). The Lepcha liagoet is also probably
this variety; it has shorter ligules to its leaves than the type.
7. DESDROCALAMUS PATELLAKIS, n. sp. Gumlle.
A rather soft, evergreen, crcspitose bamboo. Cuhm 20 to 30 ft. high, 1 to l-o in.
in diameter, dull green, striate; nodes uiarkcd by a projecting, softly hairy ring often
•3 in. deep and "2 in. thick; internodes 12 to 18 in. long, whitish beneath the nodes,
walls thin, fistular. Culni-sheuihs lorg persistent, 10 to 12 in. long, 3 in. broad at
base, prominently striate, sparsely covered with appressed brown stilf hairs outside,
glabrous within; attenuate in the upper third only to a truncate top, -7 to 1 in. broad,
the top and the margin for 1 to 2 in. down fumislicd with a membranous, fimbriate,
pale fringe which is -3 to '4 in. broad; imperfect Hade lanceolate, 0 in. long, 1 in.
broad, usually recurved; ligule conspicuous, fringed like the sheath. Leaves soft, variable,
8 to 16 in. long, 1 to 4 in. broad, unequally nan-owed at the base into a '2 in. petiole,
ending abuve in a twisted scabrous point; smooth above, slightly rough below, minutely
scabrous on the edges; main vein thick prominent, secondaiy veins 8 to 10, intermediate
7 ; leaf-slmth» striate, keeled at back, truncate or produced at top into a narrow
callus, fringed or ciliate at the edges; liguh veiy long and broad, deeply longfimbriately
fringed. Inflorescence a huge compound panicle mth spicate branches bearing
distant distichous heads, the heads -5 to 1 in. in diameter, supported by hard, shining
bracts and containing many spikelets; racliis dull greenish-brown, rough, fistular, joints
flattened on one side. Spikelets dark brown, depressed, blunt, -4 in, long by as much
INDIAN BAMBTISE^E ; GAilBLE. 87
broad; emptg glumes 1 to 2, short, rounded, many-nerved, membranous; flowers 3 to
5, usually all fertile; flowering glumes broad, orbicular, cuspidate, ciliate on the edges
and densely tomentose wthin, 9- to 11-nervcd; palea much shoi-tcr, ovate-lanceolate,
acute or bi-niucronate, ciliate on the keels and 2-nerved between, densely tomentose
withm; terminal iiower followed by a bristle-like rachilla, with a minute nidimcnt of
a flower. Lodicalcs 0 to 2, n a i i w linear-lanceolate, long-ciliate, generally absent.
Sfamens cxserted; anthers purple, the connective produced into a s)iort, conical, hairy
point. Omrg ovate from a broad base, hairy above, produced into a haiiy style bearing
three short plumose stigmas. Caryopsis (immature) rounded, shining, hairy above, dull
and cuneatc below, pericarp easily separable. BAJIBUSA PATELLARS, Kurz 3/S. in Calcutta.
Bot. Garden Uerhariimi.
North.East Himalaya and hills of Assam, ascending to 5,000 ft. Collected by
Kurz, T. Anderson, G. A. Gammie, myself and others in the Darjeeling hills in leaf only,
and by Sri Gopal Banerjee, in July 1890, in flower at Rangma Parbat, Naga Hills'
for G. MaiDu. The chief Darjeeling locality is the Sinionbong ridge below Tono-lo
at 4,COO ft. o o o
This remarkable species, distinguished at once by the curious ring at the nodes
and the fringes of the culm-sheath, has long been kno-wn in the Darjeeling hills by
the name I'agjioJc, pagjiok-pao (Lepcha), but in leaf only. The flowering "specimens
no-w received are said by G. Mann to be doubtful, as he identifies them with Dendrocalavius
Ilamiltmiii. But I find that they do not entirely agree with those of that
common and well-known species, for the flowering glumes and pale® are very Iiairy
inside, the anther tips are not neariy so long, there ai-e lodicules occasionally present,
and there is a terminal free rachilla; so that I consider I am justified in assuming
that Babu Sri Gopal Banerjee did get his leaves and his flowers ofi the same clump,
and that until fui-ther specimens come to hand, those sent by him should be considered
as belonging to tliis species.
This bamboo is well worth cultivation for its handsome appearance, and it mio-ht
even be hardy in some pai-ts of Europe. In the Naga Hills it is used for basket-work
and known by the name Footoong (Mikir). '
PLATE No. Ib.—Dmlrocalamuspatdlaris, Gamble. 1, leaf-branch; 2, flowering branch-
3, culm-sheath—0/ natzirul size; 4, spikelet; 5, fiowei-ing glume; 6, palea; 7, lodicules •
8, anther; y, ovary and stigmas; 10, caryopsis (immature)—cntoyct/. (Nos.' 1 and 3
from my oivn Sikkim specimens; the rest from G. Mann's.)
SECTION III.
8. DESDROCALAMUS GIGANTEUS, Mmiro in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxri. 150.
A gigantic bamboo, with close casspitose culms and slender branches. Culms very
large though thin-walled, 80 to 100 ft. long, usually naked below and branched
above, 8 to 10 in. in diameter, grey-green, covered with white waxy scm-f when
young; internodes rather short, 15 to 16 in.; nodes hairy beneath and marked with root
scars; walls thin. Culm-shcaths very large, about 20 in. long by 20 in. broad at base
early deciduous, hard, glabrous, shining withiu, dull yellow without and thinly coverS
with golden stiff hairs, rounded at the top and often much depressed; imperfect blade 5
16 in. long, up to in. broad, usually recurved, the edges waved and often involute^