Rhizome neck (6–)10–18 cm, 4–15 mm in diam. Culms 2.5–3.5 m, 0.8–1 cm in diam.; internodes terete, 15–17(–20) cm, smooth, initially slightly white powdery, later white waxy, glabrous; wall 1.5–3.2 mm thick, pith thin and closely adnate to inner wall; supra-nodal ridges weakly prominent; sheath scar greatly prominent as a thick broad ridge, initially brown setose. Branches 6–16 per node, deflexed. Culm sheaths gradually deciduous, red-brown, narrowly triangular, much longer than internodes, basally leathery, distally more papery, sparsely brown setose, longitudinal ribs prominent, margins apically densely gray ciliolate; auricles and oral setae absent; ligule truncate or convex, ca. 1 mm, margins usually ciliolate; blade readily deciduous, reflexed, linear-lanceolate, glabrous, margins dentate-serrulate. Leaves 2–4 per ultimate branch; sheath abaxially glabrous, ridged, margins gray ciliate; auricles absent; oral setae few, erect, yellow, 1–1.5 mm; ligule arcuate, ca. 1 mm, glabrous; blade linear-lanceolate, 6–10 × 0.6–0.8 cm, proximally often slightly pilose, secondary veins 2- or 3-paired, transverse veins weakly prominent, base cuneate, margins spinescent-serrulate, apex long acuminate. Inflorescence unknown. New shoots Jun.

The bamboo cultivated in the West under the cultivar name Fargesia 'Rufa' is not this species.

Fargesia rufa is an important source of food for the giant panda.

* 1600–2300 m. S Gansu, N Sichuan.