Japan Flora: Stems herba­ceous, 50-100 cm. long, with long woolly white hairs especially on the inflorescence; leaves 2-ranked, linear, ensiform, gradu­ally narrowed above, smooth, 30-70 cm. long, 1-2 cm. wide at base; scape terminal, usually simple, with several short leaves; spike erect, 20-50 cm. long, rather many-flowered, the bracts oblong, attenuate above, nearly erect, 2-6 cm. long; flowers 1 or 2 in axil of each bract, sessile, yellow; perianth­ segments ovate, membranous, witliering but persistent and enclosing die fruit, 15-18 mm. long; stamen about 2/3 as long as the perianth-segments; inner perianth segments membra­nous, glabrous, cuneate, rather acute, slightly shorter than the fertile stamens; capsule oblong, about 12 mm. long, with long white tomentose hairs, the seeds narrowly cocoon-shapcd, 0.7 mm. long, minutely papillose on the upper half. Aug.-Oct. Wet places in lowlands.

Kyushu. Ryukyus, Formosa, China, Indian, Malaysia, and Australia