Smilacina fusca Wallich, Pl. Asiat. Rar. 3: 37. 1832; S. bootanensis Griffith; S. finitima (W. W. Smith) F. T. Wang & T. Tang; S. fusca var. pilosa H. Hara; Tovaria finitima W. W. Smith; T. fusca (Wallich) Baker.

Plants 25--50 cm tall. Rhizome creeping, tuberous-moniliform, ca. 1 cm thick, stout. Stem glabrous or distally pilose. Leaves 4--9; petiole 1--2.5 cm, glabrous or pilose; leaf blade oblong to ovate-lanceolate, 8--17 × 3--6.5 cm, base rounded or subcordate, margin sometimes ciliate, apex cuspidate-caudate. Inflorescence a panicle; rachis zigzagged or straight, sometimes with spreading, stiff hairs. Flowers solitary; pedicel 4--8(--13) mm. Perianth rose; segments nearly free, subelliptic, 3--4 × 2--3 mm. Filaments subdeltoid, ca. 1 mm, flat; anthers small. Ovary 1.5--2 mm, 3--4 × as long as style. Style very short. Berries red at maturity, 5--8 mm in diam., 1--3-seeded. Fl. May--Jul, fr. Sep--Nov. 2 n = 28, 36, 54*, 66, 72.

Forests, thickets; 1600--2800 m. S Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].