水银竹 shui yin zhu

Arundinaria sinica Hance, Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., sér. 4, 18: 235. 1862; A. longiramea Munro.

Culms 1–3.8 m, 0.5–1 cm in diam.; internodes green, straw-colored when dry, glossy, glabrous; wall 3–4 mm thick; nodes flat. Culm sheaths purple-brown, leathery-papery, striate, sparsely white or colorless hairy, margins densely bright gray ciliate; auricles absent; oral setae several, to 1 cm; ligule red-brown, truncate, 1–1.4 mm, ciliate or not; blade erect to reflexed, narrowly triangular-subulate on mid-culm sheaths, ovate-lanceolate on upper ones, apex long acuminate. Leaves 7–14 per ultimate branch; sheath yellow-brown, leathery, glossy, glabrous; auricles absent; oral setae yellow-brown, to 1.6 cm; ligule red-brown, truncate, short, ciliolate or not; blade broadly lanceolate, 14–60 × 2.2–6.8 cm, thinly leathery, both surfaces usually glabrous, secondary veins 8 or 9 pairs, transverse veins sparse, tessellations narrowly rectangular, base cuneate, apex long acuminate. Panicles ample, 23.5–30 cm or more; branches spreading, pulvinate. Spikelets purple-green, pedicel 2–6 cm; florets 3 or 4. Rachilla internodes glabrous. Glumes 2, papery; lower glume oblong-lanceolate, 4.5–5 mm, 3-veined, apex slightly acute, upper glume 5–6.5 mm, 5-veined, apex acuminate; lemma 9–10 mm, papery, adaxially scabrid, 7-veined, apex acuminate; palea nearly as long as lemma, keels and apex ciliate; lodicules unequal in size, anterior pair larger. Stamens unknown. Style short; stigmas 2. New shoots Apr, fl. May.

* Open forests, thickets on hills and in valleys; 600–700 m. Guangdong, Hainan.