Panicum chondrachne Steudel, Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1: 51. 1853; Chaetochloa chondrachne (Steudel) Honda; C. matsumu-rae (Matsumura) Keng; Panicum matsumurae Hackel; Setaria matsumurae Hackel ex Matsumura.

Perennial with slender rhizomes clothed in imbricate, ovate, appressed-pubescent scales. Culms slender, ascending, 60–170 cm tall, glabrous. Leaf sheaths glabrous, long ciliate along margins and at mouth; leaf blades linear-lanceolate, thin, 5–38 × 0.5–2 cm, glabrous or rarely papillose-pilose, base rounded, margins scabrous, apex attenuate; ligule ca. 0.5 mm, densely ciliate. Panicle open, linear to narrowly pyramidal, 12–30 cm, slightly nodding, branches spaced, stiffly spreading, lowest 1–2.5(–5) cm, most spikelets subtended by a single bristle; axis scabrous, sometimes also hispid; bristles 4–10 mm. Spikelets plumply elliptic, ca. 3 mm, acute; lower glume ovate, 1/3–1/2 as long as spikelet, acute; upper glume 3/4 as long as spikelet, 5(–7)-veined; lower floret neuter, as long as upper floret; lower lemma 5-veined; lower palea narrowly lanceolate, shorter than its lemma; upper lemma finally light brown, smooth, shiny, acute. Fl. and fr. Aug–Oct. 2n = 36.

This is a distinctive species on account of its long, scaly rhizomes, elongate, narrow panicle, and smooth, shiny fertile floret.

Woodlands, moist mountain slopes, roadsides. Anhui, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea].