Stems 2-5 m tall, may be dark green but usually either shiny black or with dark purplish-brown mottling. Internodes at the base of the stems are characteristically relatively long with horizontal nodes and no swelling (cf. P. aurea): there is a groove or flattening of the stem face on the side of the branches. Basal sheaths without markings except sometimes at the tip. Leaves mostly 5-10 cm long, 1-1.5 cm wide.
Eastern & central China
Forms with jet black shiny stems are popular landscape and hedging bamboos.
Source: (2005). Poaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Stems with dark blotching and/or streaking. ['Bory']
A fine stand of this bamboo can be seen at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (Melbourne Gardens) about 100 m east of F Gate.
