Rhizome ascending, short, 1.2--2 cm thick; nodes dense. Leaves 4--6, basal, slightly distichous equitant, shortly petiolate; leaf blade lanceolate or linear, 18--60 × 2--6 cm, subleathery. Spike 2.5--4 cm, densely many flowered, with several sterile bracts apically; peduncle 1--2 cm; fertile bracts lanceolate, 1.5--3 cm × 5--8 mm, margin denticulate. Perianth campanulate, 0.8--1.2 cm; tube 5--7 mm; lobes yellow or orange, deltoid-ovate, 3--5 × 2--4 mm, fleshy. Filaments proximally widened and adnate to perianth tube, widened part denticulate at margin, free part very short. Ovary ovoid-globose, ca. 2 mm in diam. Style distinct, ca. 1 mm; stigma 3-lobed. Fl. Apr--May. 2 n = 38*.

Dense forests, mixed forests along valleys, shady rocky slopes; 1800--2900 m. S Xizang, NW Yunnan [India, Nepal, Sikkim].