Pleioblastus chino (Franch. & Sav.) Makino
by W.R. Sykes
Dense thicket-forming; rhizomes running. Culm usually 1.5-3 m, purplish when young, becoming deep green, arching over towards apex; internodes terete. Culm-sheath green, glabrous. Branches 3-6 from middle and upper nodes; main branches branching again and bearing additional small branchlets at the base, forming a dense cluster. Leaf-sheath glabrous, oblique at apex. Ligule 3-4 mm, appressed puberulent. Oral bristles few, caducous. Leaf-blade 6-18-(30) × 0.7-1.5-(2.3) cm, narrowly lanceolate, often yellowish green above, abaxially ± glaucescent, long acuminate. Inflorescence composed of small spikes (2-4 cm) at the tips of lateral branchlets, with main rachis densely pubescent. Spikes subtended by sheaths « leaf-sheaths. Spikelets few, stongly antrorse, 1-1.5 cm. Glumes strongly tessellate.
N.: Wanganui (Wanganui River bank); S.: Canterbury (Otahuna near Tai Tapu, Selwyn River bed). In old shrubberies, especially in moist habitats.
Naturalised from Japan.
Flowering occurred in N.Z. in the 1962-1964 period and available specimens are from Tai Tapu, Canterbury. The general vigour of the plants does not seem to have been much affected.
Also known in N.Z. as Arundinaria chino (Franch. et Sav.) Makino and A. simonii var. chino (Franch. et Sav.) Makino.
