Panicum palmifolium J. König, Naturforscher 23: 208. 1788 ["palmaefolium"]; Chamaeraphis palmifolia Kuntze; Chaetochloa palmifolia Hitchcock & Chase; Panicum neurodes Schultes; P. palmifolium Willdenow ex Poiret (1816), not J. Konig (1788); P. plicatum Willdenow (1809), not Lamarck (1791).

Perennial from a short knotty rhizome. Culms erect or slightly geniculate, 75–200 cm tall, 3–7(–10) mm in diam. Leaf sheaths usually sparsely hispid, margins tuberculate-ciliate near ligule, otherwise glabrous; leaf blades fusiform-lanceolate, plicate, 20–60 × 2–7 cm, glabrous or hispid, narrowed toward base, apex acuminate; ligule 2–3 mm, ciliate. Panicle 20–60 × 2–10 cm, branches up to 20 cm, laxly spreading, flexuous, some spikelets subtended by a single 5–15 mm bristle. Spikelets broadly lanceolate, 3–4 mm, acute; lower glume triangular-ovate, 1/3–1/2 as long as spikelet, obtuse to acute; upper glume ovate, 1/2–3/4 as long as spikelet, 5–7-veined, acute; lower lemma neuter, often distinctly longer than upper floret, 5-veined, tipped with a short incurved beak; lower palea narrow, hyaline, 2/3 as long as lemma; upper lemma indistinctly rugulose to almost smooth, slightly shiny, apex apiculate, green and compressed. Fl. and fr. Aug–Dec. 2n = 36, 54.

Panicum palmifolium Willdenow ex Poiret (1816) is a nomen novum for the illegitimate later homonym P. plicatum Willdenow (1809), not Lamarck (1791), but is itself illegitimate as a later homonym of P. palmifolium J. König (1788). Both Chaemaeraphis palmifolia and Chaetochloa palmifolia are based on P. palmifolium Willdenow ex Poiret, but must be treated as nomina nova rather than new combinations.

This species is used for food and medicine.

Open forests, thicket margins, shady pathsides. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [W Africa, tropical Asia].