石绿竹 shi lü zhu

Culms ca. 8 m, ca. 3 cm in diam.; internodes initially green, lower nodes distally blotched purple, becoming yellow-green in age, to 20 cm, white powdery, glabrous; wall 2–3 mm thick; nodes initially purple, nodal ridge elevated, more prominent than sheath scar. Culm sheaths pale green-purple or yellow-green, at lower and or basal nodes with purple blotches and small spots, initially white powdery, scabrous between veins and minutely strigose, at upper nodes unmarked, usually glabrous; auricles and oral setae absent; ligule purple or yellow-green, peaked, fragile, 4–8 mm, usually decurrent on one or both sides, erose or lacerate, ciliolate; blade reflexed, green, linear, flat or ± wavy on lower sheaths. Leaves 2 or 3 per ultimate branch; auricles and oral setae absent; ligule arcuate, long, brittle; blade linear-lanceolate, 7–11 × 1.2–1.5 cm, both surfaces glabrous, rarely abaxially pilose proximally. New shoots Apr.

* Cultivated; 700–1800 m. Anhui, Gansu, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang.

The shoots are edible, and the small, hard culms are used as props and for handles of farm implements.