Pleioblastus distichus (Mitford) Nakai

The miniature cultivar grown in China differs from the type in its smaller stature and glabrous culm sheath nodes. Earlier applications of the name Bambusa pygmaea to this species were in error. Flowering of plants cultivated in the United Kingdom around 1970 demonstrated the presence of 3 stamens, hence its placement in Pleioblastus rather than Sasa, where it has usually been placed in Chinese literature.

Culms 20–40 cm, 1–2 mm in diam.; internodes glabrous; nodes glabrous or sometimes sheath scar pilose. Culm sheaths glabrous. Leaves 5–8 per branch, closely spaced, distichous; auricles absent; oral setae white, smooth; blade erect, lanceolate, 3–7 × 0.3–0.8 cm, rather rigid, glabrous.

Cultivated for ornamental purposes. Jiangsu, Zhejiang [native to Japan].

Bambusa disticha Mitford, Garden (London) 46: 547. 1894; Arundinaria pygmaea var. disticha (Mitford) C. S. Chao & S. A. Renvoize; A. variabilis Makino ex Vilmorin var. disticha (Mitford) J. Houzeau; Pleioblastus pygmaeus var. distichus (Mitford) Nakai; Sasa disticha (Mitford) E. G. Camus; S. pygmaea var. disticha (Mitford) C. S. Chao & G. G. Tang.