Plants with chlorophyll, autotrophic, flowering when 12.5-70 cm tall. Stems green, robust. Basal rosette leaves numerous, linear-lanceolate, 0.2-1.7 × 0.3-2 cm. Cauline leaves linear, 1.5-8 × 0.2-1 cm. Inflorescences 8-20-flowered; bracts lanceolate, 0.5-2.4 cm. Flowers pedicellate, bluish purple or yellow, 1-2.6 cm. Perianth tube 3-8 mm; wings conspicuous, 1-3.5 mm wide; outer tepals triangular, 1.5-4.5 mm, margin double and shallow; inner tepals lanceolate, 1-2 mm, margin single or double and shallow. Stamens sessile; connectives with 2 apical crests and a pendent basal spur. Ovary ellipsoid, 6-12 mm. Capsule obovoid. Seeds ellipsoid. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jun-Sep. 2n = ca. 136.

Wet thickets or grasslands; 400-3000 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hunan, Yunnan [Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Australia].