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Rhizome neck 4-10 cm. Culms 2-5 m, 0.5-1.5 cm in diam.; internodes 12-20 cm, cylindrical, glabrous or initially slightly white-waxy, very smooth, initially dark green, streaked purple and purple-tinged above node, becoming burgundy-red after exposure to sun, then mid-brown; wall 1-4 mm thick; nodes unraised, very level; sheath scar very thin, white; branches 7-20, central dominant, red-brown. Culm sheaths slowly deciduous, papery, shorter than internodes, uniformly pale, distally with sparse very short light-yellow erect hairs, apically triangular to rounded; margins distally white-ciliate; auricles absent; oral setae absent; ligule 1-2 mm, truncate, serrate; blade lanceolate, reflexed, deciduous to persistent. Leaves 2-4 per ultimate branch; sheaths distally and veins red-purple where exposed, glabrous, external margin distally white-ciliate; auricles absent; oral setae absent; ligule ca. 1 mm, truncate to rounded, tomentose; external ligule shortly cilate; blade narrowly linear-lanceolate, delicate, matt bright green at first, 4-13 0.3-1 cm, glabrous, base rounded to cuneate, secondary veins 2-4-paired, margins very shortly spinescent, transverse veins not visible.
Name Latin planatus level referring to the smooth unraised culm nodes.
This bamboo from C Nepal differs from H. falconeri in its smaller narrow leaf blades, non-glutinous, less striped, distally shortly pilose culm sheaths, and narrower culms with very level nodes. It was grown under the name Arundinaria microphylla at Kew, and became known as Neomicrocalamus microphyllus or Drepanostachyum microphyllum in cultivation elsewhere. It has burgundy-red culms after exposure to sun, and leaf blades that often develop a blend of orange and red colours when chilled in the late summer. When first described it was combined with Himalayacalamus asper from W Nepal, which has rougher culm sheaths and broader leaf blades. Later discovery of the flowers of both these bamboos confirmed them to be different species.
 Himalayacalamus planatus was introduced into the UK from the Langtang Valley, C Nepal by Merlyn Edwards in Nov 1971.
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 "extra-vaginal branching")
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 "culm sheath interior glabrous")
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