Rhizome ascending, short, 1--2 cm thick, stout; nodes dense. Leaves 2 or more, basal; petiole 14--16 cm; leaf blade linear-lanceolate, 4--20 × 1--1.5 cm, papery, glabrous, apex acuminate. Spike 6--10 × 1.2--2 cm, usually laxly several flowered; peduncle 1.5--3 cm; bracts 2(or 3) per flower, brownish yellow, 4--7 × 4--11 mm, membranous. Perianth subcampanulate, 1--1.5 cm; tube 3--7 mm; lobes purple, ovate, 5--8 × 4--6 mm, fleshy. Filaments with very short free part. Ovary ovoid, 1.5--2 × ca. 2 mm. Style 4--5 mm, 3-angled; stigma mushroom-shaped, ca. 2 mm in diam. Berries ovoid-globose, ca. 12 × 5 mm. Fl. Dec--Jan, fr. Dec--Jan of following year. 2 n = 38*.

* Rocks in forests; 1000--1600 m. Guangxi, SE Yunnan.