The genus Gelidocalamus, established by Mr. Wen in 1982 [Journal of Bamboo Research 1(1):21-24], is a natural group because of ito specific characteristics. It differs from other genera of Bambusoideae in very short branches which are not rebranched in the same year, large grass-like panicle and quite small spikelets.The present paper deals with systematic position of this genus and its main characteristics. The authers thonght that though its inflorescence type and flower structure were similar to Indocalamus Nakai and Arundinaria Michaux, it was much more affinis to the genus Arundinaria, rather than to Indocalamus. In this paper the authors pro-vided new distributional and morphological notes for some species of this genus. In addition, a new species named Gelidocalamus solidus C. D. Chu et C. S. Chao collec-ted from Guangxi Province was also described.