Rattans are spiny climbing plants
belonging to the Lepidocaryoid Major Group
of the Palm Family (Moore 1973). In the
Malay Peninsula 9 genera occur : Calamus,
Daemonorops,korthalsia Plectocomia,
Plectocomiopsis, myrialepis Calospatha,

Baruna (Crataeva religiosa, Forst) is
a fast growing tropical hardwood species
found to grow sporadically in Bangladesh
near river banks and in swampy lands. The
wood is softer than many other indigenous
species with a yellowish-white to brown
colour. The wood has been reported to be a
good timber for turnery works and, as such,
used for making toys, cups, saucers and many
other small articles (Chowdhury and Ghosh
1958). But uptil now it is not utilised as an
industrial raw material in the country except
for fuel wood. A fast growing species as
it is, raising of Baruna plantations in
swamp forests as well as its possible uses
in wood-based industries of the country
was discussed in more than one meeting of
the ‘Research Consultative Committee’ held
in the Forest Research Institute, Chittagong.
In this context, the present research works
have been conducted in the Institute to study

Bamboo is an important raw material
in our villages for a wide range of uses.
Bamboo is grown in small groves in village
homesteads. For the last few years a disease
of village grown bamboos has caused
substantial damage. Rahman (1978) described
some aspects of the symptoms and isolated
Coniothyrium fuckelii as the dominant
associated fungus. Pathogenicity tests with C.
fuckelii on Bambusa balcooa at Rajshahi
in 1979 did not yield any infection (Rahman,
unpublished data). Review of literature
on C. fuckelii did not reveal any report
that the fungus was a pathogen. Isolation
of other fungi was inconclusive (Rahman,
1978), but the scattered distribution of

Some species of bamboos produce flowers
once in their life and die after flowering.
The seeding cycle is said to be 6 to 120 years.
Some other species produce flowers annually
throughout the year and do not die after
flowering. In order to keep record on the
nature of flowering of bamboos, Government
of India issued a circular in 1893 which has
Gupta, M. L. S. 1952. Gregarious flowering
of Dendrocalamus strictus. Ind. For.
78 : 547-550
Gupta, K. K. 1972, Flowering of different
species of bamboos in Cachhar
district of Assam in recent times. Ind.
For. 98 : 83-85
Scngupta, M. L. 1939. Early flowering in
Dendrocalamus strictus. Ind. For. 65 :
583-585
been incorporated in Bangladesh and other
Forest Manuals ( Hasan 1973 ). For
Bangladesh, there is no regular report of the
flowering of bamboos. Hasan (1973) reported
and analysed the flowering of 5 species of
Bangladesh bamboos which flowered till
1973. Banik (1979) reported the flowering of
“Baijjya Bansh” (Bambusa vulgaris Schrad

Copper salts, borax and boric acid
individually provide good to excellent
protection to wood against fungal and insect
attack. A new formulation has been
developed at the Forest Research Institute,
Chittagong, Bangladesh with borax, boric
acid and copper sulphate (BBC) in
mixture. Immediate precipitation of copper
borate occurs when borax is added to a
clear solution of copper sulphate and boric
acid in mixture. The precipitate dissolves
in ammonium hydroxide and an intense
blue solution is obtained. On vaporization
of ammonia from the solution copper
borate is reprecipitated.

This refers to
“Phytophysiological studies
forests of Chakaria
Biggyan Patrika
The relationship
distribution of
ground water
seem to
the article
on mangrove
Sundarbans” (Bano
1 & 2 : 17-28).
shown between
mangrove species
table ( Fig. 1 ) does
be tenable. Mangrove species
grow under tidal swamp conditions. During
the high tides water table in tidal swamps
occurs over the soil surface. The fall of
groundwater table during the low tides
under such conditions depends mainly on
soil permeability than on elevation of the
landform. Soil permeability in Chakaria
Sundarbans being very slow, the
groundwater table remains almost on the soil
surface even during the low tides. No
scope, therefore, remains to be confused
on the issue at which depth the groundwater
table should occur in very poorly
drained soils of tidal swamps.

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The taxonomy of bamboos offers more
problems to the taxonomists than that of
any other group of flowering plants.
Unlike other perennial flowering plants many
bamboos flower once in their life and die.
Because of the non-availability of flowering
materials, identification based on anatomical
structure is often of particular
interest.
Except the leaf anatomy by Metcalf
(1960), no anatomy of M. conip act iflor us
has yet been done. Ghosh and Negi (1960)
studied culm epidermis of six Indian
bamboos. Pattanath and Ramesh Rao (1969)
studied the culm epidermis and internodal

Bending timber, as a means of producing
curved parts in fabrication, has several
advantages over other methods of manufacture.
A variety of bends can conveniently
be made from solid wood by hand bending
method. It is often found suitable for the
production of such articles as various
furniture parts, country boats, vehicle parts,
sports goods and novelty items. Although
the modern trend is oriented towards the
manufacture of wooden bent parts from
glued laminated timber, extensive studies have
been made in many countries on bending
of solid timber (Anon. 1948, Anon. 1959,
Anon. 1967, Peck 1943, Peck 1950, Martin
and Wangaard 1950, Rehman et al 1956).
Solid woods have been classified by them
according to their bending characteristics.
No such information in respect of the

The Sundarban forests lie on the
south-west part of Bangladesh and occupy a
major part of the deltaic regions having
a land area of 4,75,000 hectares. The forest
is comprised of a wide variety of tall
mangrove species and short undergrowths. Th area, being dissected by numerous
interconnecting rivers and creeks, is difficult
to approach by land communications;
consequently the Sundarbans have been less
disturbed enthropically. These forests thus
provide an excellent opportunity to study