Plants 20--70 cm tall. Stolons short. Stems terete, 1--6 mm in diam. Basal leaves several, basal one smaller than others and usually withered and persistent at anthesis. Cauline leaves 3--5; leaf blade lanceolate to narrowly so, flat, 5--18 cm × 2--25 mm, margin sparsely long pilose especially near juncture with leaf sheath, apex chestnut brown, acuminate. Inflorescence borne in axils of 2 or 3 apical cauline leaves, a decompound, corymbose cyme; bracts ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 1.5--3(--6) mm, margin sparsely ciliate. Flower solitary; pedicel divaricate, to 3 cm, unequal; bracteoles 2, ovate, 1--1.5 × 0.6--0.9 mm, margin lacerate or pilose. Perianth segments yellowish green to pale brown or reddish brown to dark brown, ovate-lanceolate, 2--2.5 × 0.8--1.2 mm, subequal or inner ones slightly longer than outer, apex mucronate. Filaments 0.8--1 mm; anthers 0.6--0.8 mm. Stigmas 0.8--1.6 mm. Capsule trigonous ovoid, slightly longer than perianth, apex mucronate. Seeds reddish brown to chestnut brown, ellipsoid, 1.3--1.6 mm; appendage absent. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Jun--Aug.

Forests on slopes, thickets, bamboo groves, wet riversides and trail sides; 1500--3600 m. Gansu, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].