Anthistiria villosa Poiret, Encycl. Suppl. 1: 396. 1812 ["1810"]; A. gigantea Cavanilles subsp. villosa (Poiret) J. D. Hooker; A. mutica Steudel; Pseudanthistiria emeinica S. L. Chen & T. D. Zhuang; Themeda gigantea (Cavanilles) Hackel subsp. villosa (Poiret) Hackel; T. gigantea var. villosa (Poiret) Hackel.

Perennial. Culms tufted, stout, 2–3.5 m tall, 1–2 cm in diam. Leaf sheaths glabrous, basal sheaths strongly compressed; leaf blades ca. 100 × 0.7–1.5 cm, scabrid, gradually narrowed to the thick white midrib toward base, acuminate; ligule ca. 1 mm, ciliate. Compound panicle up to 1 m with many drooping branches, branches bearing several spathes, each spathe subtending a further spathe and usually a single spatheole with raceme; spatheoles 2–3.5 cm, minutely hispidulous; peduncle pilose at apex. Raceme composed of (1–)2 spikelet pairs and a terminal triad above the involucre of 2 homogamous pairs. Homogamous spikelets arising at slightly different levels, male or barren, 10–15 mm, narrowly lanceolate, wingless, shortly pubescent. Sessile spikelet 7–8 mm; callus 1–2 mm, acute; lower glume oblong-lanceolate, dorsally compressed with shallow central groove, densely brown strigose; upper lemma lanceolate, midvein produced into mucro or poorly developed short awn. Pedicelled spikelet 10–15 mm. Fl. and fr. Aug–Jan.

This is a giant grass with stout culms and a large, spathate panicle lacking prominent, geniculate awns. The name Pseudanthistiria emei-nica is based on a few anomalous specimens from Sichuan (Emei Shan) in which one or both of the homogamous spikelet pairs have been replaced by a normal spikelet pair.

Hill slopes, forest margins, disturbed moist grassy places; 300–2500 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bangladesh, Bhutan, NE India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka (introduced), Thailand].