Plants shrubby, to 5 m tall. Stem simple; internodes often longer than wide. Leaves spaced along distal part of stem, distinctly petiolate; petiole 4--8 cm, base neither enlarged nor covering internode; leaf blade elliptic-lanceolate or broadly oblanceolate, 25--40 × 6--7 cm, midvein distinct. Inflorescence terminal, branched, 30--60 cm; rachis glabrous. Flowers in clusters of 2--4; pedicel 8--10 mm, articulate at middle. Perianth white, 1.8--2 cm; tube ca. 8 mm; lobes 1--1.2 cm. Filaments filiform; anthers ca. 2 mm. Style filiform, much longer than ovary. Berry orange, globose, 1.5--2 cm in diam., 3-furrowed. Fl. Apr--May, fr. Sep--Nov.

Dracaena hokouensis was compared in the protologue with D. helferiana Wallich ex Kurz, described from Myanmar, and is also similar to D. spicata Roxburgh, described from cultivated plants originating from Chittagong, Bangladesh, except that the latter species has subsessile flowers.

Forests, bamboo forests, hillsides along valleys; 100--700 m. S Guangxi, SE Yunnan [?Thailand, Vietnam].