Cnemidia angulosa Lindley, Edwards’s Bot. Reg. 19: ad t. 1618. 1833; C. semilibera Lindley; Decaisnea angulosa (Lindley) Wallich; Govindooia nervosa Wight; Tropidia barbeyana Schlechter; T. bellii Blatter & McCann; T. calcarata Ames; T. govindovii Blume; T. semilibera (Lindley) Blume.

Plants 16-45 cm tall. Rhizome short, rigid; roots 1.5-2.5 mm in diam., fleshy. Stem solitary or 2 arising from same rhizome, erect, unbranched or 1-branched, internodes 3-6.5 cm; proximal nodes naked or with tubular sheaths, distal nodes enclosed in sheaths 1.5-3(-6.5) cm. Leaves 2, apical, subopposite, elliptic or ovate-elliptic, (6-)10-17 × (3-)4.5-9.5 cm, papery, base contracted into amplexicaul sheaths, apex long acuminate. Inflorescence a terminal raceme with more than 10 flowers, 5-8 cm; floral bracts narrowly lanceolate, 6-8 mm, midvein conspicuous. Flowers not resupinate, greenish white; pedicel and ovary 6-9 mm. Dorsal sepal linear-lanceolate, 8-9 × ca. 1.5 mm, apex acuminate or acute; lateral sepals almost completely connate and forming a synsepal; synsepal suboblong, 8-10 × 2-2.5 mm, apex shallowly 2-lobed, embracing lip and connected to spur at its base. Petals linear-lanceolate, 8-9 × ca. 1.5 mm; lip suboblong, 6-7 × ca. 2 mm, with 2 slightly thickened longitudinal ridges from middle to base, base spurred; spur cylindric, ca. 4 × 1-1.5 mm, apex obtuse. Column ca. 6 mm; anther erect, ovoid-lanceolate, ca. 3.5 mm; rostellum erect, lanceolate, ca. 5 mm. Capsule oblong-ellipsoid, 1-1.5 cm × 6-7 mm. Fl. Sep, fr. Dec-Jan. 2n = 57.

Forests, forest margins; 100-1800 m. Guangxi, Taiwan, SE Xizang, S and SW Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam].