美竹 mei zhu

Phyllostachys assamica Gamble ex Brandis; P. bawa E. G. Camus; P. decora McClure; P. helva T. H. Wen.

Culms 8–10 m, 4–6 cm in diam.; internodes bright green, not white powdery, becoming yellow-green or green, 30–42 cm in mid-culm, initially sparsely retrorsely white hairy, becoming glabrous; wall 3–7 mm thick; nodal ridge weakly elevated, as prominent as or slightly more prominent than sheath scar. Culm sheaths green or green-purple to purple, with pale yellow or yellow-green stripes, usually with sparse, small, dark spots, distal margins purple, apex broadly truncate or slightly convex; auricles absent to 2, purple, falcate, small to large; oral setae purple; ligule purple, usually slightly arcuate or truncate, relatively short, broad, with longer purple setae, white ciliolate; blade erect or sometimes spreading in upper sheaths, yellow-green or purple-green, triangular to linear-triangular, margins proximally purple, nearly flat to weakly crinkled. Leaves 1 or 2 per ultimate branch; auricles small or obsolete; oral setae erect; blade 7.5–16 × 1.3–2.2 cm. Inflorescence not known. New shoots early May. 2n = 48*.

Cultivated. Guizhou, Henan, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Myanmar].

The inclusion of this species in the IUCN Red List seems difficult to justify given the broad distribution.

The culms are split for weaving mats and various articles.