BAMBOO. See ARUNDO and BAMBOO, (Encycl.) This tree, the ily or illi of the Hortus Malabaricus, grows naturally in sandy places, and on the banks of rivers in both Indies; where it frequently attains a height exceeding even that of the cocoa-tree. The root is not very different from the stem, unless that it is of a whitish colour, and consists of several ra-
dicles or fibres. From the joints of the main root are emitted small jointed stalks, which again emit others from their joints; and from these, as from so many new roots, arise several stalks joined together; which being planted with their radicles or string-roots, serve to perpetuate the species. These stalks are round, have a green bark; are hard, emit from the joints new branches and twigs, and are armed in the joints themselves with one, two, or more, rigid and acute thorns of an oblong figure. It is to be observed, however, that the stalks in question, arising, as we have said, immediately from the root, have attained in their native soil the height of two or three men, and the thickness of almost a span, before they send forth any lateral branches. These, when young and tender, are nearly solid, pervious only in the middle by a small tube
Bamboo. tube. The older stalks and branches are hollow within, being shut, however, at the joints with a woody partition, and covered internally with a slender whitish membrane that is composed of hard white woody filaments. The colour of the stalks, when young, is a brownish green; when older, a shining yellow, with a shade of white. The leaves are long, narrow, seated on short footstalks, streaked with longitudinal veins, and rough on the edges if rubbed downwards. The flowers grow in long scaly spikes, which proceed in great numbers from the joints of the stalks. Rheedee mentions a tradition prevailing on the coast of Malabar, that the bamboo vegetates till its 60th year; at which period of its growth, and nearly a month before the flowers emerge from their scaly covers, the tree is divested of all its leaves; and after it has ceased to flower, immediately dies. This tree or reed is termed by the inhabitants of Ceylon, unaghas, that is, "fever-tree," from an opinion generally entertained in that island, that a fever is the certain consequence of bathing in any river into which the flowers or leaves of the bamboo have fallen. By the Arabians it is named tabaxir; as is likewise a milky humour or sugar produced in it. The Indians call it mambu; whence vulgarly, and by corruption, its European name of bambu or bamboo. In the island of Madagascar, and particularly in the province of Galemboulou, by the testimony of Flacourt, it is produced in such abundance as to give name to the province, for in those parts it is termed voulou. The size of this tree in India is generally so great, that houses are built of it. In the porch of the academical garden at Leyden are suspended some fragments, a present of the celebrated Piso, the largest of which exceeds 28, the least 26, feet in length. That they must, however, have been double that size before they were broken off, appears probable from this circumstance, that the thickness of one extremity scarce differs from that of the other. It is likewise wonderful that so immense a reed should be clothed with so very small leaves; the largest of the dried ones in the collection of Professor Syens at Leyden, mentioned by Rheedee in his Hortus Malabaricus, scarcely exceeding a span in length, or the breadth of a finger in width. The stalks, when old, are entirely covered in the cavity with a sort of calx, which is esteemed useful in the strangury, and to such as are troubled with purulent urine. Bamboo being burnt, affords very fertile ashes, in which plants of all kinds thrive remarkably. Whilst burning, the stalks emit a very loud explosion; the air contained in their cavity being rarefied by the heat, and desiring a larger space, breaks thro' the partitions at the joints, and violently seeks a passage whereby to escape. Kempfer relates, in the Amcinitates Exotice, that in a province of Japan called Osmi, which has a slimy bottom, the roots of bamboo luxuriate with such wonderful beauty, that, being dug out of the ground and disentangled from the strings which encompass them, they serve, as the stalks with us, for walking-sticks, commonly called rotang. From this curious reed several conveniences are obtained besides those which have been mentioned. The reader is referred for a more minute detail, to the Mantissa Aromatica of Piso; where, besides a very accurate description of the tabaxir or sugar mentioned above, he will also learn, that the tender branches or twigs,
particularly those near the root, being macerated in salt and vinegar, afford, with the addition of garlic and the pods of capicum, a sort of pickle, which is esteemed excellent, and constitutes not the least valuable part of those famous condita commonly termed acbar and atsjaar, and well known in Europe for exciting the appetite and promoting digestion.