Herbs perennial. Rhizomes black-brown, curved, large, 2-3 cm in diam. Stems 1-3 from rhizome, erect, 40-60 cm tall, simple, glabrous, slenderly angulate. Basal leaves long petiolate; petiole 5-15 cm; leaf blade gray-green abaxially, green adaxially, narrowly oblong or lanceolate, 6-18 × 2-3 cm, leathery, both surfaces glabrous or abaxially sparsely curved pubescent, base cuneate, rarely subcordate, margin with thickened vein tips, slightly revolute, apex acute or slightly acuminate. Cauline leaves shortly petiolate, lanceolate; uppermost leaves linear, subsessile; orchreae: lower part green, upper part brown, membranous, not ciliate, dehiscent. Inflorescence spicate, dense, 4-6 cm, 0.8-1.2 cm in diam.; bracts ovate lanceolate, membranous, apex long acuminate. Pedicels spreading, longer than bracts, 5-6 mm, slender. Perianth pinkish or white, 5-parted; tepals elliptic, 2-2.5 mm. Stamens 8; anthers red-brown. Styles 3; stigmas capitate. Achenes included in persistent perianth, shiny, ovoid, sharply trigonous, ca. 2.5 mm.

Grassy slopes, forest margins; 1500-4000 m. ?Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Yunnan [NE India, N Thailand].