Bambusa spinosa Blume ex Nees, Flora 8: 580. 1825, not Roxburgh (1814); B. stenostachya Hackel; B. teba Miquel; Ischurochloa stenostachya (Hackel) Nakai.

Culms 15–24 m, 8–15 cm in diam., apically nodding; basal internodes slightly flexuose, green, 25–35 cm, distally initially sparsely strigose, later glabrous; wall 20–30 mm thick; each node of lower culm with a ring of aerial roots or root primordia, with a gray or brown sericeous ring below and above sheath scar. Branches to base, solitary on lower nodes, with branchlets usually forming tough, sharp, curved thorns and densely interwoven. Branches 3 to several on upper nodes, central markedly longer and thicker. Culm sheaths tardily deciduous, apex broadly convex or concave, with a triangular protuberance on each shoulder, densely stiffly brown hairy; auricles usually reflexed, crescent-shaped, linear-oblong, slightly unequal; oral setae dense, pale brown, curved, long, thick; ligule 4–5 mm, laciniate, fimbriate; blade usually reflexed, ovate to narrowly ovate, abaxially strigose, adaxially densely stiffly dull brown hairy, base ca. 2/5 as wide as sheath apex, margins ciliate. Ultimate branches with 5–9 leaves; leaf blade linear-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 10–20 × 1.2–2.5 cm, both surfaces scabrid, mainly subglabrous but abaxially densely villous near base. Pseudospikelets 2 to several, clustered at nodes of flowering branches. Spikelets pale purple-green, linear, 2.5–4 × 0.3–0.4 cm; florets 4–12, central 2–5 perfect. Glumes 2, ca. 2 mm, glabrous; lemma ovate-oblong, 6–9 × 2.5–4 mm, glabrous, 9–11-veined, margins glabrous, apex acute; palea ca. 7 × 1.8 mm, 3-veined between and 3-veined on either side of keels, apex bifid. Filaments separate, 6–7 mm; anthers yellow, 3–4 mm. Ovary narrowly ovoid, 1.2–2 mm; style short; stigmas 3. New shoots Jun–Sep, fl. spring.

Bambusa blumeana 'Wei-fang Lin' (Guihaia 8: 122. 1988) was cultivated in Taiwan. It is characterized by the golden yellow culm and branch internodes, which turn orange with deep green stripes.

The culms are used for scaffolding.

Probably introduced, cultivated on river banks and around villages; below 300 m. Fujian, Guangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan [Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].