Rhizomes thick, ca. 1 cm in diam.; nodes distinct. Stems 50--100 × 1--1.5 cm, flattened, with prominent scars and bases of old leaf sheaths. Leaves 10 or more clustered into a terminal fan, yellowish green, broadly sword-shaped, 50--70 × 5--7 cm, veins ca. 10, apex acuminate. Flowering stems with 5--7 short, stout branches near apex, 30--50(--100) cm; spathes 3--5, green, narrowly ovate, 1.5--2.5 × ca. 1 cm, 2--6-flowered, apex obtuse. Flowers bluish violet, 7.5--8 cm in diam.; pedicel 1.5--3 cm, stout, persistent. Perianth tube ca. 2 cm; outer segments obovate, mottled darker, or with linear patterns around irregular, yellowish crest, 4.5--6 × 2.4--4 cm, margin undulate; inner segments spreading, narrowly obovate, 3.5--4 × 1--1.3 cm. Stamens ca. 3 cm; anthers yellow. Ovary green, 7--8 mm. Style branches pale blue, 3--3.5 cm × 8--10 mm; terminal lobes fimbriate. Capsule cylindric, 2.8--4.5 × 1.3--1.5 cm, apex mucronate but not beaked. Seeds brown, semiorbicular. Fl. Apr, fr. May--Aug. 2 n = 30.

Grasslands at forest margins, wet riversides; 1800--2200 m. Xizang, Yunnan [NE India, Myanmar].