Neololeba atra (Lindl.) Widjaja

Plants erect and shrubby. Culms 4–8 m high, 2–3 cm diam.; mid-culm internodes hollow, glabrous. Leaves auriculate; basal sheath ciliolate to ciliate; ligule laciniate; blade linear or narrowly ovate, to 50 cm long, to 9 cm wide, cross-veined, glabrous, with margins scabrous or hirsute at base; adaxial blade surface not grooved. Pseudospikelets 5–20 mm long; rachilla segments broad and flattened, 0.8–1.5 mm long, glabrous. Glumes 2, to 7 mm long; lower glume 5–7-nerved; upper glume 7–9-nerved. Bisexual florets: lemma ovate, 5–11 mm long, acuminate, keeled, 10–14-nerved, ciliate; palea narrowly oblong or narrowly elliptic, 5.5–12 mm long, acute, 9-nerved (3 nerves on each flap, 2 keels, 1 nerve between keels); anthers c. 4.5 mm long.

A tropical plant. It grows from sea level up to about 1250 m altitude in Papua New Guinea. Often the plant grows near watercourses that are flooded in wet seasons. It is very sensitive to cold.

The young shoots are harvested and cooked and treated like a pitpit.

It is planted from cuttings of the cane. They take a little over a year to become established and produce edible shoots. They also grow wild. To stop clumps spreading the rhizome below the ground level needs to be chopped through. Young plants are not easily transplanted. Rooted shoots near the base can be separated off and replanted.