Atractantha shepherdiana, a new species of woody bamboo from Brazil, is here described and illustrated, and an identification key based on vegetative characters for all the species of the genus is provided. In its vegetative state, the new species resembles Atractantha amazonica by having culms with a small central lumen. The new species differs from A. amazonica mainly because of the occurrence of tomentose-velvety ochre trichomes on the upper and lower portions of young internodes, pseudopetiolate blades of the culm leaves that are initially erect and later reflexed, and by the girdle with hirtellous-hispid dark-brown trichomes.