Ophrys lancea Thunberg ex Swartz, Kongl. Vetensk. Acad. Nya Handl. 21: 223. 1800; Aceras angustifolium Lindley; A. angustifolium var. longicrure (C. Wright ex A. Gray) Miquel; A. lanceum (Thunberg ex Swartz) Steudel; A. longicrure C. Wright ex A. Gray; Herminium altigenum Schlechter; H. angustifolium (Lindley) Ridley; H. angustifolium var. brevilabre Tang & F. T. Wang; H. angustifolium var. longicrure (C. Wright ex A. Gray) Makino; H. angustifolium var. nematolobum Handel-Mazzetti; H. lanceum var. longicrure (C. Wright ex A. Gray) H. Hara; H. longicrure (C. Wright ex A. Gray) Tang & F. T. Wang (1951), not Bentham & Hooker (1883); H. minutiflorum Schlechter; H. stenostachyum Tang & F. T. Wang; Monorchis angustifolia (Lindley) O. Schwarz; M. minutiflora (Schlechter) O. Schwarz; Platanthera angustifolia (Lindley) H. G. Reichenbach; Satyrium lanceum (Thunberg ex Swartz) Persoon; Spiranthes lancea (Thunberg ex Swartz) R. C. Bakhuizen & Steenis.

Plants 14-83 cm tall. Tubers subglobose to ellipsoid, 10-15 × 5-12 mm. Stem with 2 tubular sheaths at base, 2-4-leaved. Leaves cauline, often widely spaced, alternate, linear to linear-lanceolate, 6-20 × 0.5-1.4 cm, apex acute or acuminate. Inflorescence 12-43 cm; peduncle cylindric, with 1 to a few linear-lanceolate sterile bracts 1-6 cm; rachis 6-31 cm, laxly to subdensely many flowered; floral bracts lanceolate, 2-8 mm, shorter than or occasionally exceeding ovary, apex acuminate. Flowers erect or horizontal, pale yellowish green to green; ovary straight to slightly arcuate, 5-7 mm including pedicel. Dorsal sepal suberect, ovate to oblong, concave, 2-4 × 1-1.5 mm, 1-veined, apex obtuse; lateral sepals spreading, oblong to ovate-oblong, oblique, 2.2-4 × 1-2 mm, 1-veined, apex subobtuse or acute. Petals forming a hood, linear, 2-4 × 0.2-1 mm, 1-veined, apex obtuse to subacute; lip often pendulous, oblong, 4-10 × 1-2 mm, base dilated and concave, furcately 3-lobed near middle; disk ridged; lateral lobes linear, 2-7 mm; mid-lobe oblong to triangular, to ca. 1 mm, apex acute to obtuse. Column ca. 0.8 mm; pollinia globose; viscidia orbicular. Fl. Jun-Aug. 2n = 38, 40, 42, 76.

Mixed forests, coniferous forests, bamboo forests, thickets, grasslands; 700-3600 m. Anhui, N Fujian, SE Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, S Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, S Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [India, Indonesia, Japan, Kashmir, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam].