Leaves ensiform-linear, 4--8 cm, 1.5--3 mm wide at middle, veins 7--11. Scapes 1--4, (8--)25(--37) cm, 5- or 6(--8)-ribbed; sheath 4--9 cm; receptacle villous; heads subglobose, 4--9 mm in diam., glaucous; involucral bracts reflexed, straw-colored, obovate, 1.8--2.8 × 1.5--2.7 mm, rigid, membranous, subglabrous; floral bracts obovate-oblanceolate, abaxially villous toward apex. Male flowers: sepals blackish, spathelike, 1.5--3.2 mm, abaxially white clavate hairy toward 3-lobed to 3-cleft apex; petals 3, linear, anterior one ca. 2 × as long as others, villous, gland black to brownish; anthers dusky to black. Female flowers: sepals 3, free, boatlike, villous and white clavate hairy, anterior one occasionally keeled, lateral ones keeled or not; petals 3, spatulate, anterior one larger than others, membranous, villous, gland borne on only 2 or all 3 petals, black; ovary 3-loculed; style 3-cleft. Seeds ovoid, 0.8--0.9 mm; testa hexagonally reticulate, prickles linear. Fl. and fr. Apr--Sep.

Damp soil in valleys; 1600--4000 m. S and W Yunnan [Thailand, Vietnam].