A ginger family plant which has a yellow sweet smelling rhizome or underground stem. The leaves are long and narrow like a sword, with a long tapering point. They are ranked in opposite pairs of leaflets along the stem. The leaves are 40 to 75 cm long and 8 to 16 cm wide. The edges of the leaves are smooth without teeth although they are slightly wavy. The top of the leaf surfaces are smooth and without hairs but under the leaf there are some fine hairs. The leaf stalk has a channel along its 8 to 15 cm length on the upper side. The flower occurs at the end of the leaf stalk and is stalked. The petals are yellow on the edges, then a brown stripe before becoming dark red in the middle. The seed capsule is round and 2 to 3 cm across. At an early stage the seed capsule has small hairs but later becomes smooth and orange or red.
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