Rhizome rather short, 1.5--2 cm thick, stout; nodes dense. Leaves 3--5 or more, basal, distichous equitant; petiole 2--5 cm; leaf blade oblong-oblanceolate, 65--110 × 7.5--12 cm, glabrous, apex acuminate. Spike 6--16 cm, several to many flowered; peduncle 5--15 cm; bracts 1 per flower, deltoid, ca. 1.8 × 1 mm. Perianth campanulate, ca. 1.4 cm; tube ca. 5 mm; lobes black-purple, lanceolate, 8--10 × 3--4 mm, fleshy. Filaments with very short free part; anthers elliptic, 2--2.5 mm. Ovary subglobose, 3--5 mm. Style ca. 1.2 cm; stigma capitate, dilated, 6--7 mm in diam. Berries globose, 1.2--2 cm in diam. Fl. Mar, fr. Jun. 2 n = 38*.

Forests; ca. 1600 m. Guangxi, S Yunnan [Vietnam].