Culms ca. 9 m, ca. 5 cm in diam.; internodes initially green, not white powdery, puberulent, becoming light green, white powdery on upper portion at maturity, sometimes minutely pitted (visible under 10 × lens); nodal ridge more prominent than sheath scar. Culm sheaths gray-green, larger ones evenly and sparsely strewn with small spots, distal margins tinged with purple, glabrous throughout even on margins; auricles and oral setae absent; ligule dark purple, truncate, 1–2 mm, margin with purple cilia ca. 0.5 mm; blade erect, green, with purple margins, triangular to linear, distally crinkled. Leaves 2 or 3 per ultimate branch; sheath glabrous except for ciliolate margins; auricles absent; oral setae 3–5, erect, ca. 8 mm; ligule truncate, ca. 1 mm, margin with cilia 1–2 mm; blade broadly lanceolate to narrowly oblong, 11–16 × 2–2.5 cm, both surfaces glabrous, margins smooth or rarely scabrous. Inflorescence not known. New shoots Apr–May.