Rhizomes shortly creeping, thick. Leaves grayish green on both surfaces, linear, 25--70 cm × 3--12 mm, midvein obscure. Flowering stems 25--50 cm, hollow. Spathes 3, green, lightly tinted reddish purple, lanceolate, 6.5--9 × 0.8--1.5 cm, 2-flowered, apex acuminate. Flowers very dark violet, velvety, 6--9 cm in diam.; outer segments narrowly obovate, limb with golden yellow stripes at base, 5.5--7 × 2.5--3.5 cm; inner segments spreading obliquely, narrowly lanceolate, ca. 6 × 1 cm. Stamens 4--4.5 cm; filaments purple; anthers violet. Ovary 3--3.5 cm × 5--7 mm. Style branches dark purple, 4.5--5 cm × 6--8 mm. Capsule ellipsoid, 4--6 × 1.7--2 cm, 3-angled, apex not beaked. Seeds maroon-brown, semiorbicular. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Aug--Oct. 2 n = 40*.

Forest margins, hillsides, meadows, streamsides; (1200--)3000--4000 m. Guizhou, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Myanmar].