Saccharum floridulum Labillardière, Sert. Austro-Caledon. 13: t. 18. 1824; Eulalia japonica Trinius; Miscanthus japonicus (Trinius) Andersson.

Plant tufted, robust. Culms erect, 1.5–4 m tall, 6–15 mm in diam., unbranched, nodes usually glabrous, or uppermost sometimes bearded. Leaves cauline, congested; leaf sheaths longer than internodes, overlapping, glabrous, pilose at throat; leaf blades linear, flat, tough, 20–85 × 0.5–4 cm, glabrous, midrib prominent, margins scabrid, base rounded, apex acuminate; ligule 1–3 mm, densely pilose on back. Panicle oblong or elliptic, dense, 20–50 cm; axis 25–45 cm. Racemes numerous, 10–30 cm, appressed or ascending, glabrous, scaberulous; rachis internodes puberulous, nodes glabrous; lower pedicel 1–3.5 mm, upper pedicel 2.5–8 mm. Spikelets 2.5–4(–6) mm, awned; callus hairs 4–6 mm, white, spreading, as long as the spikelet; glumes subequal, membranous, golden brown, 2.5–4(–6) mm, margins pilose near apex, veins obscure, apex acuminate; lower lemma lanceolate, hyaline, 3–3.5 mm, veinless, pilose; upper lemma similar to lower, 2–2.5 mm; awn geniculate, 5–6(–10) mm; upper palea a small hyaline scale. Anthers 3, 1–1.5 mm. Caryopsis oblong, ca. 1.5 mm.

The plants are cultivated for hedges and as ornamentals, the rhizomes are used for medicine, the culms are used for papermaking, and the young leaves are used for forage.

Slopes, valleys, grassy places. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [SE Asia].