Culms 2–7 m, 1–5.5 cm in diam.; internodes slightly 4-angled or terete, 18–20(–25) cm, glabrous; wall 5–8 mm; distal nodes 2-or 3-branched, with conspicuously raised ridge. Culm sheaths deciduous, oblong-triangular, thickly papery or leathery, sparsely setose, upper margins densely yellow ciliate, apex arched; auricles absent; ligules rounded, ca. 1 mm, glabrous; blade triangular, 4–6 mm. Leaves (1 or)2 per ultimate branch; sheaths 2.5–4 cm; auricles absent; oral setae 2–4, 4–7 mm; ligule short when leaf solitary, ca. 0.5 mm when 2-leaved; blade lanceolate, 7.5–17 × 1–1.6 cm, glabrous. Inflorescence unknown. New shoots Apr–May; shoots purplish black.
Understorey of broad-leaved forests, occasionally in subalpine coniferous forests or dark coniferous forests; at elevations from 950-2,200 metres.