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Culms 3–6 m, 8–30 mm in diam.; internodes 8–20 cm, cylindrical, densely white-powdery, glabrous, rigid, nearly solid; nodes with prominent to greatly prominent supra-nodal ridge, waxy, sheath scar prominent to greatly prominent; branches 3–5, deflexed; buds ovate, yellow-brown, area near to margins puberulous. Culm sheaths slowly to quickly deciduous, leathery, triangularly narrowly rounded, apex triangular, brown-setose abaxially, longitudinal ribs prominent, margins glabrous or ciliate; auricles absent or obscure; oral setae few, yellow-brown, ca. 1.5–4 mm, erect; ligule 1–1.5 mm, nearly truncate, glabrous, blade linear-lanceolate, revolute, proximally slightly pilose, readily deciduous. Leaves 3–6 per ultimate branch; sheath glabrous; auricles absent or obscure; oral setae scarce, short, yellow-brown; ligule ca. 1 mm, truncate, glabrous; blade lanceolate, 3.5–8 × 0.5–1.2 cm, apex long-acuminate, base nearly rounded or broadly cuneate, both surfaces glabrous, secondary veins 3–5-paired, margins spinescent-serrulate, transverse veins elongated-tessellate, dense, not very clear. Inflorescence unknown. Name from the Latin albus, ‘white’, and cereus, ‘waxy’, referring to the densely pruinose young culm internodes.
Small plants introduced from Yunnan, China by Shanghai Botanic Garden in 1995 for Kimmei Nursery in Holland (Yunnan 1, 2, 3a & 3b), sent as Fargesia lushuiensis, F. papyrifera, F. albocerea & F. sp. were all tentatively identified at the time from fragments seen as B. albocerea because they had plentiful white wax on culm internodes, with no hairs and no dark bristles below the node at that time.
The name albocerea means white wax, but many Borinda species have substantial white wax on the culm internodes, and the degree of waxiness is quite variable within species, so this character should be used with caution in their identification. Most of the bamboos cultivated under this name are very difficult to distinguish from Borinda papyrifera using the critical characters for species recognition, and they may be the same species, as suggested by Demoly.
Mature introduced plants of Yunnan 1, 2, & 3b eventually produced setose culm internodes, while the description of this species states internodes glabrous, so most introduced plants may not actually be B. albocerea at all, but compared to B. papyrifera the stature is much smaller, the leaves are smaller, the auricles and oral setae are also different, and the culm sheaths are more persistent. They are also similar to the introduction grown as Borinda contracta, but usually with less red colour in their culm sheaths. Yunnan 3a however has kept the glabrous internodes, with no dark bristles under the node, so that introduction seems to fit the description of B. albocerea better.
However, further critical fieldwork is required in Yunnan to determine the boundaries of B. papyrifera, B. albocerea and similar species, and the correct species names for these introductions. Meanwhile bamboos grown under this name should still be referred to by their introduction clone name & number as well as any postulated species name, e.g. B. albocerea ‘Yunnan 95 - 2’.
Caution in identification of these bamboos is also required as much of the Tongpeia seed from China was sold under the name Fargesia albocerea, and young plants grown from the seed are now being sold under that name as well. They can easily be distinguished by their leopard-skin culm sheaths and long spidery leaf sheath bristles.
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