Flora of New Zealand Series

Rather dense thicket-forming; rhizomes running ± extensively. Culms c. 2 -c. 3 m, erect, green; internodes terete. Sheath-blades very narrowly triangular. Branches many from each middle and upper node. Leaf-sheath oblique at apex. Ligule 2-3 mm, minutely puberulent, often purplish. Leaf-blade 8-18-(22) × 0.4-0.8 cm (to 1.5 cm wide on strong young culms on outside of clump), linear-lanceolate, ± uniformly green, finely but conspicuously tessellate, long acuminate with finely tapering tips.

N.: Wanganui (east side of Wanganui River); Hauraki district (Hikutaia Stream). Established on river bank in Wanganui during the 1960s but that population was subsequently destroyed. Today this bamboo is only seen in a few specialist collections.

Naturalised from Japan, Ryuku Islands.

Pleioblastus gramineus has narrower leaves than any other species of Pleioblastus treated here, the ratio of length to width being usually 18-22 : 1. Leaves of this sp. are said to have a twist towards the apex, a feature which cannot be determined from dried material. Flowers not observed in N.Z.