菲白竹 fei bai zhu

Bambusa fortunei Van Houtte, Fl. Serr. Jard. 15: 69. 1863; Arundinaria fortunei (Van Houtte) Rivière & C. Rivière; A. variabilis Makino ex Vilmorin var. fortunei (Van Houtte) J. Houzeau; Bambusa picta Siebold & Zuccarini ex Munro; B. pygmaea Miquel; B. variegata Siebold ex Miquel; Nippono-calamus pygmaeus (Miquel) Nakai; Pleioblastus pygmaeus (Miquel) Nakai; P. variegatus (Siebold ex Miquel) Makino; Sasa fortunei (Van Houtte) Fiori; S. pygmaea (Miquel.) Rehder; S. variegata (Siebold ex Miquel) E. G. Camus.

Culms 10–30(–80) cm, 1–2 mm in diam.; internodes short, glabrous; nodal ridge flat or weakly prominent. Branches absent or 1 per node. Culm sheaths persistent, glabrous. Leaves 4–7 per culm or branch; sheath glabrous; auricles absent; oralsetae white, smooth; blade longitudinally white to pale yellow striped, lanceolate, 6–15 × 0.8–1.4 cm, white pubescent, more densely so abaxially, base broadly cuneate, apex acuminate.

Cultivated for ornamental purposes. Jiangsu, Zhejiang; probably in other provinces [native to Japan].

Flowering of this species in Brazil in 1979 confirmed the presence of 3 stamens, hence its placement in Pleioblastus rather than Sasa, where it has usually been placed in Chinese literature.