Terrestrial herbs. Pseudobulbs ovoid, 2-2.5 cm tall, 1 cm thick, bearing 3-4 leaves. Leaves linear, 40-80 cm long, 2-3.5 cm wide, apex acute, base cuneate, coriaceous and lustrous, dark green above, pale green below, entire or sometimes minutely serrulate on margins, midrib elevated on lower surface, lateral veins 3-5. Peduncle 30-50 cm long, slender, green and tinged with purple or totally purple; rachis nearly as long; bracts lanceolate, 1.5 cm long; pedicel and ovary 2.5 cm long. Flowers 10-20, lax, fragrant, 4-7 cm in diam.; sepals greenish and covered with purplish lines or totally purple, oblanceolate or elongate oblong, 3.5 cm long, 6-8 mm wide, acute; petals more or less greenish, with purplish lines, ovate-lanceolate, 2.4-2.6 cm long, 8-10 mm wide, acute; lip pale green or pale yellow, with purplish patches, ovate-lanceolate, 2-2.4 cm long, 1 cm wide, more or less 3-lobed, lateral lobes semi-elliptic, erect, with transverse purplish lines, obtuse, midlobe ovate, reflexed, apex obtuse, disc with 2 keels joined near their apex; column yellowish, tinged with purple near top on dorsal side, with purple spots on ventral side, 15-20 mm long; anther yellowish white, semispherical, 2-celled; pollinia 4, 2 unequal pairs, connected to crescent or semi-orbicular viscidium.

TAIPEI: Tatungshan, Su 540*; Shintien, Su s. n. Feb 1970 TAITUNG: Shinkongshan, Su s. n. Feb 1987. PINGTUNG: Nanjenshan, Su 9295.

Southern Japan, southern China, northeast India, Indochina and Thailand. Taiwan, formerly common in evergreen forests at 200-1,200 m throughout the island, currently rather rare due to extensive collecting for cultivation.

This species has been extensively collected and cultivated by orchid growers. Many variations in leaf and flower coloration have been noticed. Cymbidium albo-jucundissimum is an albino form having pale green or yellowish flowers without colored lines or spots. Other rare flower variants and monstrosities found in cultivation have been named (see synonyms above).