Sinarundinaria Nakai sect. Chimonocalamus (Hsueh & T. P. Yi) C. S. Chao & Renvoize, Kew Bull. 44: 353. 1989.

Shrubby or arborescent bamboos. Rhizomes short necked, pachymorph. Culms unicaespitose, erect; internodes terete, glabrous, cavity not filled with pith; nodes with slightly prominent supra-nodal ridge and a ring of root thorns especially dense at lower nodes. Branch complement 3 at mid-culm nodes, 3–5 at upper culm nodes, promontory absent. Culm sheaths deciduous, usually longer than internodes, sparsely setose; auricles absent or inconspicuous; blade erect or recurved, lanceolate or triangular. Leaves usually small; blade with inconspicuous transverse veins. Inflorescence ebracteate, semelauctant, an open racemose panicle initially terminal to leafy flowering branches. Spikelets robust, 4–12 flowered, followed by a sterile floret, pedicels long. Glumes 2; lemma many veined, mucronate. Palea slightly longer than lemma, 2-keeled, obtuse. Lodicules 3, transparent. Stamens 3; filaments free; anthers yellow. Ovary glabrous, appendage absent; style 1; stigmas 2, plumose. Caryopsis slender, beaked. New shoots Jun–Jul, fl. Mar–May.

Most species in this genus produce delicious bamboo shoots and are known as "xiang zhu" (香竹), meaning "fragrant bamboo." The culms are robust and are widely used in Yunnan for construction and agricultural tools. Chimonocalamus pallens and C. dumosus are attractive, subtropical ornamentals and have been introduced into gardens.

Eleven species: E Himalayas, Myanmar, SW China (S Yunnan); nine species (eight endemic) in China.

(Authors: Li Dezhu (李德铢); Chris Stapleton)