Herminium altigenum Schlechter; Monorchis alaschanica (Maximowicz) O. Schwarz; Peristylus alaschanicus (Maximowicz) N. Pearce & P. J. Cribb.

Plants 13-30 cm tall. Tubers oblong, 1-1.5 × ca. 0.8 cm. Stem with 2 or 3 tubular sheaths at base, 2-4-leaved. Leaves clustered toward base of stem, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, 4-15 × 0.4-1 cm, apex acute or acuminate. Inflorescence 14-27 cm; peduncle cylindric, with 3-5 lanceolate sterile bracts 5-15 mm; rachis 4-8 cm, subdensely many flowered; floral bracts ovate-lanceolate, 5-9 mm, exceeding ovary, apex cuspidate. Flowers nodding, green; ovary distinctly hooked toward apex, 5-6 mm including pedicel. Dorsal sepal ovate, 3-4 × 2-3 mm, 3-veined, apex obtuse; lateral sepals weakly spreading, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, 3-4 × 1.5-2 mm, 1-veined, apex subacute. Petals connivent with dorsal sepal and forming a hood, ovate-lanceolate, 3.2-4.5 × ca. 1.5 mm, abruptly narrowed above middle, fleshy, 3-veined, apex cuspidate; lip decurved, suboblong, 4-5.5 × ca. 1.5 mm, slightly fleshy, base concave, shortly saccate-spurred, furcately 3-lobed near middle; lateral lobes linear, 1.5-2.5 mm; mid-lobe narrowly linear-triangular, 1-1.5 mm, slightly broader than lateral lobes, apex acute; spur pendulous, slightly incurved, oblong, 0.8-1 mm, apex obtuse. Column ca. 1 mm; pollinia obovoid; viscidia involute, hornlike. Fl. Jun-Sep.

Alpine Quercus forests or scrubby grasslands along valleys; 1800-4500 m. Gansu, Hebei, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, W Sichuan, Xizang, NW Yunnan [Mongolia].