A distinctive bamboo cultivated near the southern border, where it forms graceful open stands of medium sized very upright culms, reaching 12m in height and 5cm in diameter. The culm sheaths are covered in white hairs at first and have two strong waves towards the top. There is a ridge (callus) on the outside of the sheath where the blade is attached. In other bamboos this is normally only seen on leaf sheaths. The blade is sword shaped and longer than the sheath. Leaf sheath auricles are prominent with very long erect white wavy bristles. The fruits are famous for their large size and shape, similar to that of a pear. During gregarious flowering the abundance of food can lead to rodent numbers increasing dramatically.

The fruit may germinate before falling off the mother plant, and storage is impossible. The culms are smaller than those of Bambusa or Dendrocalamus species in the Himalayan foothills, but they are thick-walled (solid at the base), very straight, and said to be termite resistant. They require high temperatures and high rainfall of over 2m per year to reach their maximum potential height of 21m. They provide a general purpose construction material, and are also widely used for mat-making. This species cannot be propagated by culm cuttings. The traditional planting technique is most appropriate, using a short rhizome length, as the long rhizome neck is not required.