刺竹子 ci zhu zi

Culms 3–7 m tall, 1–3 cm in diam.; internodes terete or basal ones slightly 4-angled, 15–22 cm, densely gradually deciduous brownish tomentose; nodes below mid-culm with rings of root thorns. Culm sheaths gradually deciduous, papery; ligule truncate, ca. 1 mm; blade subulate, 3–4 mm, articulate. Leaves 1–3 per ultimate branch; sheaths glabrous; oral setae several, deciduous; ligule truncate; blade 6–18 × 1.1–2.1 cm, papery, secondary veins 4–6-paired. Inflorescence lateral to shoots with apical leaves, subtended by 3 or 4, gradually enlarged bracts. Pseudospikelets 1(–3); florets 4–6. Glumes 1 or 2; lemma papery, glabrous or shortly villous, apex acuminate; palea slightly shorter than lemma, thinly papery, glabrous, apex blunt. Anthers purple. Ovary obovoid; style minute, divided close to base; stigmas 2. Caryopsis obovate-elliptic, pericarp thick.

* Evergreen broad-leaved forests; 1000–2000 m. Guizhou, Sichuan.