Herbs small, with annual pseudostems from erect, reduced rhizome; roots fascicled, tuberous, fusiform. Ligule a curved line at junction of tubular leaf sheath and leaf blade; petiole absent; leaf blade oblong or lanceolate. Inflorescence terminal on pseudostems, a spike; peduncle short and enclosed by leaf sheaths to long and exserted; bracts persistent, 1-flowered; bracteoles absent. Calyx tubular, split on 1 side, apex 2- or 3-toothed. Corolla tube usually exserted from calyx, slender, wider at throat; central lobe erect, usually cucullate; lateral lobes spreading, narrower than central one, usually free. Lateral staminodes erect, petaloid. Labellum reflexed or not, cuneate, large, apex emarginate to 2-lobed. Filament short; anther linear; connective extended at base into a spur. Ovary cylindric or oblong, 3-loculed; ovules numerous per locule, superposed. Style filiform; stigma funnelform, margin ciliate. Capsule oblong, cylindric, or clavate, 3-valved. Seeds small, arillate.

About 18 species: Bhutan, China, India, Kashmir, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim, Vietnam; 13 species (eight endemic) in China.