Plants 1--2 m tall. Ligule 3--4 mm, membranous, apex rounded, emarginate; petiole absent or nearly so on proximal leaves, 1--3 cm on distal ones; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate, 25--60 × 3.5--11 cm, glabrous, base rounded or cuneate, apex long cuspidate. Spikes subturbinate, ca. 5 cm in diam.; peduncle 0.5--4.5 cm, scalelike sheaths brown; bracts pale red, ovate, ca. 3 cm, apex obtuse with horny cusp; bracteoles tubular, ca. 3 cm, apex acute, emarginate. Calyx glabrous, 3-cleft to middle; lobes subulate. Corolla tube equaling calyx; lobes yellow, central one subulate at apex. Lateral staminodes red, subulate, ca. 2 mm. Labellum with yellow midvein, oblong, ca. 3 cm, white pubescent, veins conspicuous, apex involute. Filament ca. 5 mm; anther ca. 1 cm; connective appendage elliptic, entire, ca. 4 mm. Capsule purple or red-brown, globose, 2--2.5 cm in diam., with 10 undulate wings, apex with persistent calyx. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Jun--Sep. 2 n = 48.

Tong (Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin 18: 140. 1998) referred the plants treated in FRPS as Amomum subulatum to A. glabrum. However, one of us (Wu) notes that the species was correctly identified in FRPS, except for the illustration (pl. 46, f. 1--7), which depicts A. glabrum.

Dense forests; 300--1300 m. Guangxi, Xizang, Yunnan [Bangladesh, Bhutan, N India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].