Plants ca. 1 m tall. Basal leaves 1 to several; cauline leaf 1; leaf sheath to 27 cm; petiole 3--25 cm, pulvinus 1--2 cm, puberulent; leaf blade lanceolate, 35--45 × 6--8 cm; adaxially glabrous, abaxially velvety along midvein, base attenuate, apex long acuminate. Inflorescence composed of 4 or 5 crowded spikes, capitate, ca. 3 cm in diam.; bracts dark green, ovate, ca. 1.5 × 1 cm, apex obtuse, densely pilose, soon shredding into fibers. Flowers yellow-orange or purple; pedicel ca. 5 mm, velvety. Sepals linear, ca. 7 mm, membranous, apex hirsute. Corolla lobes reflexed, elliptic, 4--5 mm. Staminodes ca. 3 mm. Ovary hirsute. Fruit brown, trigonous, 0.6--0.7 × ca. 1.2 cm, velvety, both ends compressed. Seeds 3, ca. 5 × 5 mm, 3- or 4-angled, truncate; aril small. Fl. Apr--Aug, fr. Aug--Oct.

Forests. SE Yunnan (Pingbian Miao Zu Zizhixian) [Vietnam].