Imperata arundinacea var. latifolia J. D. Hooker, Fl. Brit. India 7: 106. 1896 ["1897"]; I. cylindrica var. latifolia (J. D. Hooker) C. E. Hubbard.

Perennial, basal sheaths becoming fibrous; rhizomes widely spreading. Culms up to 2.8 m tall, 6–10 mm in diam., 3–8-noded, nodes glabrous. Leaf sheaths usually longer than internodes, crowded below, glabrous, bearded at mouth; leaf blades flat, up to 120 × 1.2–2.8 cm, adaxial surface with yellowish long soft hairs at base, otherwise glabrous, margins scabrid, base narrowed to midrib, apex long acuminate; ligule ca. 2 mm. Panicle cylindrical, copiously hairy with slight pinkish tinge, 40–50 cm. Spikelets 3–4.5 mm; callus with ca. 12 mm silky hairs; lower glume 5–7-veined, back pilose below middle with long silky hairs ca. 3 times glume length, apex ciliate; upper glume 3-veined in lower part, scabrid, margin ciliate; lower lemma ca. 2.5 mm, margin ciliate; upper lemma resembling lower, palea broadly ovate, subequal to lemma. Anthers 2, 2–2.5 mm. Stigmas red. Fl. and fr. summer to autumn.

Swampy grasslands; ca. 800 m. SW Sichuan [N India].