Plants 6-21 cm tall. Rhizome narrowly conic to cylindric, 1-3 cm, 1.5-2 mm in diam., fleshy. Stem dark purple, with 2 or 3 sheaths at base; sheaths tubular, amplexicaul, 0.6-2.5 cm, membranous. Rachis (1-)2.5-7 cm, densely 15-25(-40)-flowered; floral bracts triangular-lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 0.5-0.8 mm, membranous. Flowers dark purple, ca. 2 mm in diam.; pedicel and ovary 1.2-1.5 mm; ovary strongly twisted. Sepals spreading, suboblong, ca. 1.2 × 0.4 mm, apex obtuse. Petals spreading, suboblong-lanceolate, ca. 0.8 × 0.3 mm, apex acute; lip adnate to column at base, broadly ovate, concave, ca. 1.2 × 1 mm, basal margin denticulate, apex with an upcurved mucro. Column ca. 0.3 mm. Capsule ellipsoid, 3-3.5 × 2-2.5 mm. Fl. Jul-Aug.

Picea forests or thickets; 2900-3700 m. SW Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, India (Sikkim), Myanmar].