I
If
ANNALS OF THE IIOYAL BOTANIC GARDEiT, CALCUTTA.
liair}', produced upwards into a narrow hairy sli/le with club-shaped pui-pl© stigma.
Caryopsis not kuown.
Upper Bm-ma, collected at Fort Stedmau. by Abdul Hak for the Royal Botanic
Gardens, Calcutta, in 1893.
Although only the flowers of this species are known, I have no hesitation in
describing it here, as it is so distinct and so well characterised by the soft white-hairy
spikelets. I have named it after General Sir H. Collett, k.c.b., who has done so
much to make known the flora of Upper Burma.
P l a t e No. 83.—Dendrocalamis Oolkttianiis, Gamble. 1 and 2, flowering branches—o/
natural size; 3, spikelet; 4, empty glume; 5, flowering glume; 6, palea; 7, authei'S;
S, ovary and style—^«^«rj/ei?.
Species of Dexdsocalamus noio referred to other genera.
= Bamhm Balcoon, Eoxb.
= Bambxtsa pallida, Munro.
= Bambiisa Griffitlnana, ilunro.
= OxytenaMliei-a Thwaitcsii, ilunro.
= Bambusa Tulda, Rosb.
8. Melocalamus, Benth.
D. £akooa,Yoigt .
D. criticits, Kurz
D. Griffit/iMnvs, Kurz
D. moHadelp'ms, Tliw.
1). Tulila, Yoigt
An arborescent bamboo of moderate size, unarmed. Cuhm from a thick rootstock,
semi-scandent. Culm-sheaths cylindrical, hard, auricled. Leaves large, petiolate, without
transverse veinlets. Inflorescence a large compound panicle, the spikelets in round
congested heads in long spikes. Spilcclets very small, 2-flowered, rachilla continuous
between the flowers and produced beyond them, flowers both hermaphrodite, one oaly
fertile. Empty ghmes 2, broad, blunt, muticous, many-nerved. Flowering glumes similar to
empty glumes. Palea as long as flowering gliime, very broad, 2-keclcd, membranaceous.
Lodiciiles 3, large. Stamens 6, filaments free, anthers blunt. Ovary glabrous, with short
style and 2 to 3 plumose stigmas. Caryopsis very large, globose, depressed, with a tough
pericarp and large, free, fleshy seed.
Distrih.—OnQ s
1. Melocalamus compactiflobus, Bth. and Hoolc. f . in Gen. PI iii. 1212.
An evergreen, tufted, ai'borescent bamboo. Oidms greyish-green, rough, scandent,
spreading and arching, 15 to 25 ft. high or more, sometimes even up to 100 ft. and
climbing over tall trees, O'o to 1 in. in diameter; nodes thickened; internodes 14 to
24 in. long. Culm-sheaths persistent, hard, brittle, cylindrical, smooth or covered with
white appressed hairs, truncate at the mouth, dilated at the base, about C in. long
b y 3 in. broad; imperfect blade nearly as long as, or longer than, the sheath, rccurved,
long-acuminate, rounded at the base and then spreading out into a narrow, dark, refloxed,
crescent-shaped am-icle, fringed with stiff bristles, hispidly hairy towards the base;
ligule narrow, entire. Leaves large, obloiig-lanccolate, rounded at the base into a haiiy
petiole "1 to '2 in. long; ending in a subulate, acuminate, penicillato, scabrous twisted
point, scabrous on one edge; 6 to 10 in. long by 1 to 2 in. broad; main vein
narrow, prominient, secondary veins 8 to 12 pairs, intermediate 4 to 6, no transverse
INDIAN BAMBUSE^; GAMBLE. 95
veinlets ; kafsheath striate, with appressed white haii's when young, afterwards glabrous,
somewhat keeled, mouth truncate, furnished with a lunate reflexed auricle fringed with
stiff bristles, and early caducous; ligule narrow, entii'o. Inflorescence a large compound
interrupted panicle of small sub-globose heads, bearing several fertile and many
sterile spikelets, often leaf-bearing ; the rachis very pubescent, flexuose, flattened on one
side, -5 to 1'5 in, in length; heads -3 to '5 io. in diameter. Spikelets very small, •! to
•15 in. long, '1 in. broad, glabrous, blunt or truncate, 2-cleft, with 2 fertile flowers and 1
empty t e r a i n a l abortive flower on a produced rachilla ; einptg glumes 2, broadly oval, ventricose,
very shortly mucrouate ; flozoering glume similar, often ciliate on the edges ; palea
as long as the flowering glume, broadly boat-shaped, shortly and bluntly 2-toothed,
2-keeled, ciliate on the keels and 4- to 5-nerved between. Lodicules 3, large, ovate, blunt,
loQg-ciliate. Stamens free, filaments short; anthers yellowish, bluntly acute at the tip.
Ovar7j glabrous, ovoid-globose, surmounted by a short thick style ; stigmas 2 or 8,
short, plumose. Caryopsis large, sub-globular, 1 to 1-5 in. in diameter, the summit
depressed, the base supported by the persistent glumes, at first glossy-green, then
brown; pericarp about -Oo to -1 in. thick, very coriaceous; seed large, fleshy.
PSEUDOSTACHYUII COMPACTIFLOEUM, Eurs For. Fl. Burma ii. 567.
Eastern Bengal and Burma, from Sylhet through Chittagong down to JIartaban,
said by Kurz to occm- rarely under 3,000 ft. in altitude, and to be frequent only between
4,000 and 6,000 ft. It has been collected in Sylhet in 1889 by Tara Kisor Gupta for
G. i l a n n (leaves and sheaths only). It was also collected in Chittagong by Dr. W. Schlich
in 1875, also in leaf only. In Burma, it was collected first of all in Jlartaban and in
the Karen HilU by Kurz in 1871, in flower ; and J . "W. Oliver found it on the
Arracan Yoma Kange in tlie Thayetmyo District in 1878, and in the Euby Mines
District in 1894.
This interesting bamboo has the appearance of a Dendrocalamus, but differs in being
scandent and having a very lai-ge seed and large lodicules. It seems to be a handsome
species and to be common. In Burma it is kuown as Wa-nwe, in Chittagong as Lota,
and in Sylhet as Daral (Bengali). It is there used for basket-work. There is a figure
of flowers and fruit by Kurz in Ind. Forester, vol. i, 219, plate II, 13, which is
attributed to this species by Bentham in the Genera Planiarum, and -which has been
utilized in my plate.
P l a t e No. S^.—Melocalamus compaetiflorus, Bcnth. and Hook. fil. 1, leaf-branch- 2
3 ( a ) , portions of flower-panicle; 3, young shoot showing culm-sheaths; 3, culm-sheath—o/
natural size ; 4, auricle of leaf-sheath ; 5, spikelet ; 6, empty glume ; 7, palea ; 8, lodicule •
9, stamen; 10, ovary; 11, young fruit ; 12, caryopsis—ew/ar^ciZ. (1 to 11 from Kurz'
Burma specimens, 12 from Kurz' Plate II, 13 in "Bamboo and its use," Indian
Forester, vol. i. 319.)
9. P s e u d o s t a c l i y u m , Mmro.
A large shrubby bamboo with single culms f r om a creeping rhizome. Culms smooth
thin-walled; nodes not swollen. Culm-sheaths shorter than internodes, truncate-triangular'
imperfect blade long. Leaves large, glabrous, with many transverse veinlets. Inflorescence a
large leafy panicle of drooping bracteate spikes, rachis wiry. Spikelets small, 1-flowered
•with a terminal produced rachilla and abortive floret. Empty glumes usually only 1 '
broad, mucronate. Flowering glimu similar to empty glumes. Palea thin, much convolute'