团聚姜 tuan ju jiang

Rhizomes irregularly branched, yellowish white inside. Pseudostems 0.8--1.5 m. Ligule 2-lobed, 1--2.8 cm; petiole 0.5--1.5 cm; leaf blade lanceolate, rarely elliptic, ca. 15 × 3.5--8.5 cm, adaxially glabrous, abaxially appressed villous, base cuneate, apex caudate-acuminate. Inflorescences arising from rhizomes, subellipsoid, 5--7 × 2--3 cm, 12--20-flowered; peduncle 2--6(--16) cm, villous; bracts purple-brown or purplish red, broadly ovate or lanceolate, 3.5--5.5 × 1--5 cm, sparsely appressed villous, apex acuminate, outer ones subdistichous; bracteoles equaling bracts, villous. Calyx white, ca. 2.8 cm, membranous, split on 1 side. Corolla yellowish white; tube 3.5--4 cm, throat sparsely pubescent; lobes red at apex, lanceolate, central one ca. 3.5 × 1.7 cm, lateral ones 2.5--3.5 cm, margin entire or crisped. Lateral lobes of labellum toothlike or absent. Filament ca. 2 mm; anther ca. 1.5 cm; connective appendage 1.8--2.2 cm. Ovary densely villous.

* Forests; ca. 900 m. C Sichuan (Emei Shan).

Used as a vegetable.