Cathariostachys madagascariensis, the Madagascar giant bamboo or volohosy in Malagasy language, is a bamboo species found in Madagascar. It was originally classified as a new species of Cephalostachys by A. Camus in 1925. In 1998, in part due to the prior encouragement of the late Dr. T.R. Soderstrom of the Smithsonian, S. Dransfield reexamined the classification of several bamboos from Madagascar. Dr. S. Dransfield determined that, although sharing many similar characteristics with Cephalostachys,C. capitata and C. madagariensis are distinct from Cephalostachys. She placed both in the new genus Carthariostachys.