Pleioblastus chino (Franch. & Sav.) Makino

Dense thicket-forming; rhizomes running. Culm usually 1.5–3 m, purplish when young, becoming deep green, arching over towards apex; internodes terete. Culm-sheath green, glabrous. Branches 3–6 from middle and upper nodes; main branches branching again and bearing additional small branchlets at the base, forming a dense cluster. Leaf-sheath glabrous, oblique at apex. Ligule 3–4 mm, appressed puberulent. Oral bristles few, caducous. Leaf-blade 6–18–(30) × 0.7–1.5–(2.3) cm, narrowly lanceolate, often yellowish green above, abaxially ± glaucescent, long acuminate. Inflorescence composed of small spikes (2–4 cm) at the tips of lateral branchlets, with main rachis densely pubescent. Spikes subtended by sheaths « leaf-sheaths. Spikelets few, stongly antrorse, 1–1.5 cm. Glumes strongly tessellate.

[From: Edgar and Connor (2000) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 5 (second printing).]