Smilacina purpurea Wallich, Pl. Asiat. Rar. 2: 38. 1831; Jocaste purpurea (Wallich) Kunth; S. oligophylla (Baker) J. D. Hooker; S. pallida Royle; S. purpurea f. albiflora (Wallich) H. Hara; S. purpurea var. albiflora Wallich; S. purpurea f. oligophylla (Baker) H. Hara; S. zhongdianensis H. Li & Y. Chen; Tovaria oligophylla Baker; T. pallida (Royle) Baker; T. purpurea (Wallich) Baker.

Plants 25--60 cm tall. Rhizome usually moniliform, 1--1.5 cm thick. Stem pubescent distally. Leaves 5--9, subsessile or shortly petiolate; leaf blade oblong or ovate-oblong, 7--13 × 3--6.5 cm, pubescent along abaxial veins. Inflorescence usually a raceme, occasionally with 1 or 2 branches, 1.5--7 cm; rachis pubescent. Flowers solitary; pedicel 2--4 mm, pubescent. Perianth white or sometimes tinged purplish; segments free, ovate-elliptic or ovate, 4--5 × 2--3 mm. Filaments ca. 1.5 mm, dilated to base; anthers small. Style nearly as long as ovary; stigma 3-lobed. Berries red at maturity, 6--7 mm in diam., 1--4-seeded. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Sep. 2 n = 36, 38*.

Forests, thickets; 3200--4000 m. E and S Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Nepal, Sikkim].