Arundinaria falcata Nees

Stems tufted, 10 to 15 ft high, glaucous when young, slender, round; the joints clothed with a velvety down, swollen, bearing numerous slender branches; stem-sheaths narrowed in the upper part to the ciliate, truncate tip, bearing a subulate recurved blade 1⁄2 to 2 in. long, ciliate on the margins especially when young, pale purple. Leaf-blades 2 to 6 in. long, 1⁄6 to 7⁄8 in. wide, narrowed at the base, tapering to a fine bristle-like tip, pubescent beneath when young, rather pale green, somewhat glaucous beneath; secondary veins two to five each side the midrib, not tesselated with cross-veinlets; leaf-sheaths striate, ending in a minutely hairy ring at the junction with the blade.

Native of the N.W. Himalaya at 4,000 to 7,000 ft (rarely higher), in damp oak forests. It is not a very hardy species, and is only suitable for the mildest parts of the kingdom. From all the bamboos here mentioned, except A. falconeri, it can be distinguished by the absence of cross-veinlets in the leaves. A. falconeri differs in having green or yellowish (not glaucous) stems with dark brown stains at the joints.

A. falcata flowers fairly frequently, being recorded in bloom in the British Isles in 1884–6, 1907–10, 1917–21, 1935–8, 1945 and 1951. Seed is fairly freely produced.