To the taxonomist, bamboos pose
special difficulties in identification. Rarity
of flowering frequency is one of them.
Suppressed vegetative activity during flowering
in some species usually results in the
death of the plant. Holttum ( 1958) and
McClure ( 1966), therefore, emphasised the
use of all vegetative parts for identifying
and classifying bamboos. Melocalamus Benth. is represented by
M. compactiflorus ( Kurz) Benth. and occur
in Burma, Bangladesh, India and IndoChina.
The genus is characterized by its
two flowered spikelets and relatively large
fruit. Even though the genus was established
much earlier (Bentham 1881, Bentham
1883 ), little is known about its vegetative
and floral morphology and fruit structure.
Diagnostic value of different vegetative and
floral characters and the details of the
fruit have been studied in this work which
has not been done before.

Keora (Sonneratia apetala, Ham) is a
moderate sized tree growing in the mangrove
forests, especially in the Sunderbans
and similar other localities of Bangladesh.
The wood is moderately hard with grey
sapwood and light reddish-brown heartwood,
suitable for making boat, packing
case and rough furniture (Pearson and
Brown 1932). Because of its rapid growth,
it is regarded as an important mangrove
species for coastal afforestation. In order
to explore its new applications in woodbased
industries of the country, a
preliminary study was made in the Forest
Research Institute to investigate into its
suitability for hardboard making

Micrococca mercurialis ( Linn. ) Benth.
(Euphorbiaceae) cited as CaloxyIon mercurialis
Thwaites by Hooker ( 1887) was reported
by the same author as occurring at Mongir
of Behar, the Deccan Peninsula, Burma
and Ceylon. It is distributed in Arabia
and tropical Africa. Prain ( 1903) reported
it from Behar. This species has recently
been collected from Chittagong district.
In the various floristic works by Heining
( 1925 ), Raizada ( 1941 ), Datta and Mitra
( 1953), Sinclair ( 1955) and Khan and
Banu ( 1972) the species has not been
recorded from the region now under
Bangladesh.