Herbs perennial. Rhizomes horizontal, purple-brown, large, ca. 1.5 cm. Stems erect, 40-100 cm tall, robust, branched. Basal leaves long petiolate; petiole 5-10 cm; leaf blade greenish abaxially, green adaxially, ovate or oblong-ovate, 4-10 × 2-5 cm, abaxially sometimes pubescent along veins, adaxially glabrous, base cordate, margin slightly revolute, apex long acuminate. Cauline leaves shortly petiolate; leaf blade narrowly ovate, smaller; uppermost leaves subsessile or clasping; ocrea brown, tubular, 2-4 cm, membranous, dehiscent at base, not ciliate. Inflorescence terminal or axillary, spicate, dense or lax, 2-4 cm, 1-1.3 cm in diam.; bracts brown, ovate, membranous, each 2- or 3-flowered. Pedicels longer than bracts, slender. Perianth red, 5-parted; tepals elliptic or narrowly elliptic, 3-5 × 1.5-2.5 mm. Stamens 8. Styles 3, free; stigmas capitate. Achenes slightly exceeding persistent perianth, black-brown, shiny, ellipsoid, trigonous, 4-5 mm, tapered at both ends.

Shaded grassy places in valleys, mixed forests on mountain slopes, grassy slopes, forest margins; 1000-3300 m. Gansu, Hubei, Hunan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Nepal, Pakistan].