Plants perennial, 17--45 cm tall. Rhizome creeping. Stems terete, 0.8--1.5 mm in diam. Basal leaves 1 or 2, cauline leaf 1; leaf sheath auricles well developed or not, acute, ca. 1 mm; leaf blade terete, 7--14 cm, inconspicuously septate, apex acute. Inflorescences terminal; head solitary, 4--5 mm in diam., 5--20-flowered; bracts several; basal bract 6--14 mm, equaling or longer than head; others bracts yellowish, broadly ovate, shorter than head. Perianth segments yellowish white, lanceolate, ca. 6 mm, subequal or inner ones slightly longer than outer, apex obtuse or on outer segments subacute. Stamens 6; filaments slightly longer than perianth; anthers ca. 2 mm. Capsule chestnut brown, shiny, trigonous ovoid, longer than perianth, apex mucronate. Seeds oblong, ca. 1 mm; appendages 2, white, caudate, ca. 1 mm. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Jul--Aug.

Meadows on mountain slopes, by ravines, trail sides; 3000--4000 m. Xizang, Yunnan [Afghanistan, Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan].