Epirixanthes aphylla (Griffith) Merrill; E. tenella J. D. Hooker; Salomonia aphylla Griffith; S. elongata (Blume) Kurz ex Koorders; S. parasitica Griffith.

Herbs, echlorophyllous, saprophytic, 5-16 cm tall. Stem erect, violet or yellow-brown, slender, with erect branches. Leaves scalelike, ca. 2 mm, pubescent. Spike terminal, unbranched; peduncles 5-25 mm, slender, ca. 2 mm in diam. Flowers sessile, minute, 1.3-1.5 mm; bracts persistent, basal, linear-lanceolate, longer than flower buds, apex acuminate, bracteoles absent. Sepals 5, free, imbricate, ovate-lanceolate, ca. 1 mm, apex acuminate. Petals 3, connate to 1/2 their length, yellowish or white with pink; lower petal somewhat keel-like and longer than lateral petals, ca. 1.5 mm, without appendages. Stamens 4 or 5; filaments united forming an open sheath adnate with petals; anthers sessile, free, ovoid-oblong. Disk present. Ovary 2-loculed; ovule pendulous; style straight or slightly curved apically, longer than or ca. as long as ovary, thin. Capsule subobcordate, wider than long, ca. 0.6 mm, ca. 1 mm in diam., margin without spines or denticulations, base with persistent sepals, indehiscent. Seeds 2, black, ovoid, ca. 0.5 mm in diam., slightly rugose, without strophiole. Fl. and fr. Jul-Oct.

Forests, bamboo groves; 600-1100 m. Fujian, Hainan, S Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].