Roscoea gracilis Smith, Trans. Linn. Soc. London 13: 460. 1822; Cautleya lutea (Royle) J. D. Hooker; R. lutea Royle.

Pseudostems 25--80 cm, slender, base with bladeless leaves. Leaves 4--6, ± sessile; leaf sheath greenish white or with purple-red spot; ligule ca. 2 mm, membranous, apex rounded; leaf blade adaxially green, abaxially usually purple or green, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 6--18 × 1.5--6 cm, glabrous, base rounded or attenuate, apex caudate-acuminate. Spikes laxly 2--10-flowered; rachis red, slightly flexuous; bracts green, lanceolate, shorter than calyx. Calyx purple-red, 1.5--2 cm, deeply split on 1 side, apex minutely toothed. Corolla tube slightly exserted from calyx; lobes bright yellow, lanceolate, 1.5--2 cm. Lateral staminodes erect, petaloid. Labellum obovate, equaling corolla lobes, apically 2-cleft to below middle. Filament curved, ca. 2 cm. Ovary glabrous. Capsule red, globose, ca. 8 mm in diam.; valves reflexed, red inside. Seeds black, angled; aril absent. Fl. Aug--Sep, fr. Sep--Nov.

Moist valleys or epiphytic on trees; 900--3100 m. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Thailand, Vietnam].