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Tortoiseshell Bamboo
Tortoiseshell is the most peculiar bamboo in the garden and is a variety of nan mu bamboo, being a bamboo of variation growing naturally, thus it is rare. It is hard to find its trace in bamboo forest of one thousand mu (a traditional unit of area) so that it is a rare and precious bamboo species for appreciation and admiration. Its joint slices resemble tortoiseshells, and also resemble dragon scales, in picturesque lumps and holes, hard and crude. In comparison with other beautiful and elegant bamboos,it lacks frail bearing and natural grace though it has strength and perseverance. Among knots on the base of the pole there appear successively irregular shrink and swell, which cross in succession like that of a tortoiseshell, symbolizing health and longevity, as the saying goes：“Happiness as boundless as the East China Sea.”
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