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Rhizome neck 5--15 cm long. Culms 2--3 m, 0.3--1 cm in diam., erect to nodding; internodes 10--15 cm, cylindrical, smooth, glabrous, with or without light white-powdery initially, wall 2--5 mm thick; nodes with weakly prominent supra-nodal ridge, sheath scar more prominent and narrowly ridged, initially shortly setose to tomentose, branches 7--14, sheathing initially bright red-brown. Culm sheaths slowly deciduous, leathery, light red-brown, narrowly rounded-triangular or narrowly rounded, shorter than internodes, grey-yellow-setose or nearly glabrous, margins distally yellow-brown-setose to long-ciliate initially, ribs prominent, lateral ones reddened; auricles small, rounded, tomentose; oral setae absent or sparse, brown, ca. 6 mm, erect, bunched or spreading, glabrous; ligule very short, ca. 0.5 mm, truncate, initially ciliolate; blade triangular or linear-lanceolate, erect, glabrous. Leaves 3--4 per ultimate branch; sheath glabrous, external margin initially shortly ciliate; auricles obovate to oblong, oral setae mainly distal; oral setae 2--6 mm, spreading, wavy, glabrous, ligule ca. 1 mm, truncate, purple, tomentose; blade lanceolate, 5--10 × 0.6--1.2 cm, base cuneate, glabrous, secondary veins 3--4-paired, one margin spinescent-serrulate, the other obscurely serrulate, transverse veins distinct. Flowers unknown in western cultivation. Shooting May to October, often twice per year.
Native to S Shaanxi, S Gansu, W Hubei, and N Sichuan at 1500--2200 m, and one of the main food sources for the Giant Panda.
Collected in S Gansu and sent to Holland, where it was seen to be a vigorous and resilient species with great horticultural potential, and it is now widely cultivated. Identified in China as Fargesia spathacea, it was grown in the west under the name Gansu 95-1, misidentified first as Yushania confusa and then as F. rufa. The tall leaf sheath auricles with wavy oral setae are distinctive, and their shape is reminiscent of a dragon’s head complete with flames.
A different species, F. apicirubens, was misidentified as this species until 2006, and will no doubt continue to be sold under this name by some suppliers for a while.
The cultivated clone differs slightly from the description of F. dracocephala in the dense soft pubescence around the culm sheath base and absence of internode wax. Cultivar name ‘Rufa’ and trade name Green Panda have been applied to this short but vigorous bamboo, which commonly shoots twice each year, and is excellent where a dense upright ca. 2 m hedge is required.
 F. dracocephala was collected at around 34°20'N, 106°E in S Gansu in 1995, between 1800 & 2500m by Shanghai Botanic Gardens.
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