平竹 ping zhu

Oreocalamus communis Hsueh & T. P. Yi, J. Nanjing Univ. Nat. Sci. Ed. 22(3): 416. 1986; Qiongzhuea communis (Hsueh & T. P. Yi) D. Z. Li & Hsueh.

Culms 3–7 m, 1–3 cm in diam.; internodes slightly 4-angled or terete at culm base, (8–)15–18(–25) cm, smooth, glabrous; wall 3–5 mm; nodes level or with slightly raised sheath scar at nodes without branches. Culm sheaths deciduous, initially green, becoming yellow-brown, papery or thickly papery; auricles absent; ligule ca. 1 mm; blade triangular or subulate, 5–11 mm, glabrous, articulate, readily deciduous. Leaves (1 or)2(–5) per ultimate branch; sheaths leathery; auricles absent; oral setae several, 3–7 mm; ligule truncate, ca. 1 mm; blade lanceolate, (5–)8–12 × (0.8–)1.3–2 cm, transverse veins distinct. Flowering branches leafless or terminally leafy on branchlet; 2–4 single pseudospikelet racemes grouped in loose fascicles, subtended by several, gradually enlarged bracts. Spikelets 2–3 × 0.4–0.5 cm; florets (3–)5–7. Glumes 1 or 2(or 3), 7–13 mm; rachilla articulate, internodes 3–5 mm, slightly white powdery; lemma 8–13 mm; palea 7–11 mm, apex obtuse or bifid. Anthers yellow, 5–6 mm. Ovary ovoid; style 1; stigmas 2. Fruit a nutlike caryopsis. New shoots May, fl. Mar, fr. May.

* Hills; 1600–2000 m. Guizhou, Hubei, Sichuan.

This species was first described as "Qiongzhuea communis" by Hsueh and Yi (Acta Bot. Yunnan. 2: 96. 1980), but that name was not validly published.