Culms 15–18 m, 10–15 cm in diam., tip slightly drooping; internodes 26–32 cm; wall thick. Branches several, main mid-culm ones 3. Culm sheaths deciduous, orange-brown, ca. 3/4 as long as internodes, leathery, margins ciliate, apex rounded; auricles 5–15 mm; oral setae present or absent; ligule 5–8 mm, serrulate; blade reflexed, glabrous or densely bearded at base. Leaf sheaths sparsely hairy; auricles inconspicuous, sparsely hairy; ligule ca. 1 mm; blade narrowly lanceolate, 10–15 × 1–2 cm. Pseudospikelet clusters 1–2.2 cm in diam. Spikelets 6–8.5 mm, nearly glabrous; fertile florets usually 2. Glumes 2 or 3; lemma 6–7 mm, apex shortly mucronate; palea 5–6 mm. Anthers yellow, becoming purple when dry, ca. 6 mm. Pistil 6–7.5 mm; ovary, style, and stigma all hairy; stigmas solitary. Fruit unknown.

* Mostly in cultivation; 300–1100 m. S Yunnan.