A common species in subtropical central and southern Bhutan with thin-walled upright culms used for general constructional purposes. This species can be recognised by the distinctive culm sheath ligule on larger culms. The ligule is very tall with a feathered margin, and it often has a single wide cleavage to one side of the centre. The culm sheaths have small auricles with short bristles, and dark brown hairs. The new culm sheaths are yellow and spear-like with closely appressed culm sheath blades, and hairs arranged in prominent vertical dark brown streaks. There are persistent white bands above and below the culm nodes. The culms  reach a maximum  diameter  of  9cm and  a

top height of 18m and are used for light construction, and also for low quality weaving. The small branches and unraised nodes allow easy splitting. The leaves, although small, are used for fodder and the shoots are sometimes eaten. Despite the lack of branching lower down the culm this species does produce aerial roots on the central branches, and the culm cutting technique of vegetative propagation should be successful. This species is found from 300m to 1,600m. A high proportion of the clumps flowered gregariously in southern Bhutan from 1986 to 1989. The clumps died, but some new clumps regenerated from seedlings.