118 ANNALS OF THE KOTAL BOTANIC GARDEN, CALCUTTA.
base into a -4 in. thickened pubescent petiole; ending in a blunt, scabrous, hairy
point; smooth above except the scabrous points on marginal veins, smooth and
slightly pale below ; main vein hardly prominent, pale, secondary veins 10 pairs, intionspicuons,
intermediate 5 ; leaf-sheatlis smooth, ending in a ronnd callus below tlie
enlarged petiole and furnished at the niouth with a few long bristles; ligiiU short.
Jnjlorescencc a terminal spicate panicle bearing clusters of very long narrow spikelets ;
rachis 1 to 2 in., slender, flattened on one side; bracts few, short. Sfjikelets to 1-5
in. long, very narrow, needle-like, on short bracteate peduncles, with 1 fertile flower
and a terminal free rachilla and rudimentary fijwei-; emptj ^lumss 2, pubescent, oblongmucronate,
then, a grooved, glabrous, short rachilla ; flowering glume linear, mucii
convolute, tliick, covered with appressed hairs, long-mwcronate; palea also much convolute,
glabrous, mucronate, as long as flowering glume. Lodiciile one only seen, narrowlanceolate,
glabrous. Stamens esserted; anihers very long, narrow, blunt and penicillateapiculate.
Ovary narrowly ovoid, glabrous, surmounted by a long glabrous bsak
enclosing the style which boars 3 short plumose stigmas. Cargopsis liot seen.
Malaya : collected by Singapore Garden Collector, Mr. Alwis, at Rupayoong,
Malacca, in 1885 (No. 2167).
I have seen only one sheet of this interesting species distinguished by the long
needle-hke hairy spikelets and short elliptic leaves. The specimen belongs to the
Singapore Botanic Garden and bears tlie name Bulu padi.
P l a t e No. lOl.—Schizostachyiim aciculare, Gamble. 1, flower- and leaf-branch—of
natural size; 2, pair of spikelets; 3, spikelet without empt}'- glumes; 4, palea; 5, lodicule;
6, anther; 7, ovary and beak and stigmas (from specimen No. 2167).
14. M e l o c a n n a , Trin.
Arborescent bamboos of moderate size, unarmed. Culms erect, singly from the
ramifications of an underground stem, distant. Culm-sheaihs often persistent, brittle,
short, with short auricles, imperfect hlade very long. Leaves broad, petioled, smooth,
no transverse veinlets. Inflorescence a large compound panicle of spicate, one-sided
spikelets. Spikelets 2 to 3, fasciculate in bracts in the axils of the spikes, acuminate,
with one fertile and one or more sterile flowers. Empty glumes indefinite, acuminate,
mucronate, striate. Flowering glumes similar to empty glumes. Palea also similar,
convolute, not keeled. Lodicules 2, narrow. Stamens 5 to 7, filaments free or ii-regularly
joined. Ovary glabrous, style elongate, stigmas 2 to 4, shortly hairy. Caryopsis very
large, pear-shaped, long beaked; pericarp very tliick.
Distrib.—One well-known species and another of imperfect identification. Of the
four others described by Munro, one is a Bambusa, oae a Cephalostachyum, and two
belong to Schizostachyum.
1. Melocanka BAM13US0IDBS, Trin. in Sprengel Neue Entd. ii. 43 (1821).
An evergreen, arboreous bamboo, with single distant culms arising from the ramifications
of an underground rhizome. Culms tall, groen when young, straw-coloured
when old,, very straight, clothed with sheaths which persist for long, unbranched
till near the top, 50 to 70 ft. high, l o ..to 3 in. in diameter; nodes marked by a
INDIAN BAMI3TTSEÌ3; GAMBLE.
thin ring only; internodes smooth, 13 to 20 in. long; walU thin, -2 to "3 in. Culmsheath
yellowish-green when young, yellow when old, brittle, striate, covered with whitish
appressed hairs, 5 to 6 in. long; 6 in. to 1 ft. broad at base, straight for about
two-thirds of the way up, then once or twice waved, then cut off straight or
concavely below the imperfect blade, the edges produced upwards into rounded, often
long-fringed amides; imperfect blade very long, often 1 ft., 1 inch broad at base,
recurved, subulate, acuminate, the base decurrent in a narrow strip along the top
of the sheath; ligule very narrow, serrate. Leaves from branchlets fascicled at the
upper nodes of the culm, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, with a long scabrous, peoicillate,
hairy, twisted point ; the base rounded and decurrent into a '2 to 'o in.
petiole; 6 to 14 in. long, I to I'o and even 3 in. broad, glabrous above,
glaucescent beneat-h, and hairy when young, both edges finely ciliate, but one edg©
scabrous, not only on the edge, but on the 2 or 3 adjoining nerves; main vein prominent,
secondary veins 8 to 12, intermediate 5 to 6, inconspicuous, no regular transverse
veinlets, but regular, rather distant, pcllucid glands with bara between voinlets; leaf
sheaths glabrous, smooth, ending in a pointed auriclo with 10 to 12 or more conspicuous,
whitish, stiff, deciduous bristles, -4 to '6 in. long, margins ciliate ; ligtile very short.
Inflorescence a large compound panicle of one-sided, drooping, spicate branches bearing
clusters of 3 to 4 spikelets in the axils of short, blunt, glabrous bracts. Spikelets
about '5 in. long, glabrous, spinous; empty glumes 2 to 4, sometimes with abortive
buds, striate, lanceolate, shortly nmcronate ; flowering glume similar, but thinner ;
palea glabrous, convolute, mucronate, acuminate, not keeled. Lodicides 2, narrow,
Hnear-oblong, obtuse and erose-fimbriate at the tip, 3- to o-neawed. Stamens free at
the base or irregularly joined, filaments flat; anthers yellow, notched at the ajoei.
Ovary ovoid, narrowed upwards into an elongated style which is divided into 2
to 4 haii-y, recuiTed stigmas. Caryopsis very large, often 3 to 5 in. long and 2 to
3 in, broad, obliquely ovoid, fleshy, the beak curved ; pericarp (hick, fleshy. Spreng.
Syst. ii. 113 (1825) {excluding syn. Artrndo maxima, Lour.)-, Jiupr, Bamb. 63; Steud.
Syn. 331; 3Iiq. FL Ind. Bat. iii. 423; Munro in Trans. Linn. Soc. xxvi. 132; Kurz
For. Fl. Burma ii. 569. 13.uibusa isacciì-era, Roxb. Eort, Beng. 25 (1814); Coroni. l'I.
iii. 38, t. 213 (1819); Fl. hid. ii. 197. Beesha Rheedii, Kunth Not. sur genre
Bambusa in Journ. de Fhys. (1822) ; Gram, i, 141 ; Enum. 434 {exol. syn). Beesha
BACCIFERA, Sch. St/sf. Vcg. 1336. N a s t u s b a c c i f e r a , Rasp, in Ann. Sc. Nat. f. v, 442,
Throughout Eastern Bengal and Burma from the Garo and Khasia Hills to
Chittagong and Arracan, and again in Tenasserim.
In parts of the above region, and certainly in Cliittagong, this is tho most common
species, and the one most universally employed for building purposes. Owing to its
habit of sending out long underground rhizomes which give out culms at intervals,
it spreads very rapidly and is extremely diflicult to get rid of for cultivation.
Rnprccht gives it as growing on 'dry sandy slopes on the hills of Coromandel,'
but so far it has not yet been collected on the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal.
This interesting and handsome species is one of the most valuable and important
of the Indian bamboos. From the Chittagong forests largo numbers are yearly exported
to Lower Bengal and, according to forest returns, about 16 millions are thus
yearly required for building pm-poses in the Gangetic Delta. Although thin-walled it
is strong and durable, and it has the great advantage of being .straight and haAn<'
only very slight knots. It is recorded to have flowered and seeded in 1863 to 1866