Plants 10--100 cm tall. Rhizome 1--2.5 cm thick. Leaves 5--10(--22); petiole (0.5--)1--6 cm; leaf blade variable, usually oblong to lanceolate, 6--15(--30) × 0.5--5 cm, base rounded to cuneate. Peduncle 5--24(--65) cm. Outer tepals (3 or)4--6(or 7), green or yellow-green, narrowly ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, (3--)4.5--7(--11) × 1--4 cm; inner ones usually yellow-green, narrowly linear, shorter or longer than outer ones, 1--1.5(--5) mm wide. Stamens 2 ± as many as outer tepals, (6--)8--12(--14) or sometimes more; filaments 4--10 mm; anthers 5--12 mm; free portion of connective usually 0.5--4 mm. Ovary subglobose, ribbed, 1-loculed, sometimes tuberculate. Style short, base enlarged, purple to white; stigma lobes (4 or)5. Capsule globose, sometimes tuberculate. Seeds enveloped by red, succulent aril. Fl. and fr. Mar--Nov.

Forests, bamboo forests, thickets, grassy or rocky slopes, streamsides; 100--3500 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Bhutan, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Thailand, Vietnam].