Plants to 3 m tall, aromatic. Rhizomes gingerlike. Ligule entire, 0.8-1.2 cm, apex obtuse; petiole absent or short; leaf blade narrowly elliptic or oblong, 40-70 × 10-20 cm, glabrous, base attenuate, margin drying membranous, apex acuminate. Spikes 13-18 × ca. 5 cm, 5--30-flowered; peduncle at least 10 cm, scalelike sheaths dense, brown when dry, oblong or narrowly elliptic, 5.5-7 × 2.3-3.5 cm, leathery, apex rounded; bracts lanceolate, ca. 4 cm × 6 mm, apex acuminate; bracteoles tubular, ca. 3 cm, apex 2- or 3-toothed. Calyx equaling bracteoles, apex obtusely 3-toothed. Corolla orange-red; tube ca. 2.5 cm; lobes oblong, ca. 2 cm × 4 mm. Labellum elliptic, ca. 2.7 × 1.4 cm, apex slightly toothed. Anther ca. 1.3 cm; connective appendage 3-lobed, ca. 4 × 11 mm, central lobe quadrilateral, lateral ones narrower. Capsule red, drying brown and longitudinally striate, oblong or elliptic, 2.5-4.5 × ca. 2 cm, glabrous. Seeds 4-6 mm in diam., many angled, strongly aromatic.

Stomachic (dried ripe fruit)

Flora of China

The decoction of dried ripe fruit is used in treating epigastric distention, stomachache, anorexia, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea and for malarial attacks.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 72, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.