乌脚绿竹 wu jiao lü zhu

Leleba edulis Odashima, J. Trop. Agric. 8: 59. 1936, not Bambusa edulis Carrière (1866); B. taiwanensis L. C. Chia & H. L. Fung; Dendrocalamopsis edulis (Odashima) P. C. Keng; Sinocalamus edulis (Odashima) P. C. Keng.

Culms to 20 m, 7.5–13 cm in diam.; internodes 20–35 cm; wall 1–1.8 cm thick; nodes flat. Branches many from basal nodes, main ones slightly dominant at mid-culm. Culm sheaths deciduous, leathery, hispid, base of outer margin usually with an arrowlike expansion below point of attachment; auricles small; oral setae few; ligule ca. 1 mm, entire or ciliate; blade erect, base ca. 1/2 as wide as sheath apex, adaxially hispid. Leaf sheaths glabrous; auricles minute; oral setae few, 7–10 mm; ligule truncate, ca. 1 mm; blade oblong-lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, 20–34 × 3–5 cm. Pseudospikelets slender, 3–3.7 × ca. 0.5 cm; florets 8–13, with 2 or 3 terminal florets sterile; rachilla not disarticulating, internodes 2–3 mm. Glume 1, 0.8–1 cm; lemma 0.8–1.3 cm; palea 0.6–1 cm; lodicules 2 or 3, 1.5–2 mm. Anthers 4–4.5 mm. Ovary oblong, 1.5–2 mm; styles ca. 2 mm; stigmas 3. Caryopsis unknown.

* Lowlands, hilly areas. Taiwan.

This species has delicious shoots and is widely cultivated in N Taiwan.