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Rhizome robust, woody, bearing scale leaves, roots, and 1 or 2 erect unbranched or little branched stems at every fourth internode; roots 1–5, ± branched, arising together and associated exclusively with branch-bearing regions of rhizome. Leaf sheath compressed, markedly ligulate, narrowed below; blade flat, linear, 13–27-veined, with spinulose margin and coarsely denticulate, rounded or obtuse apex. Flowers solitary and terminal on short lateral shoots, subsessile, each flower enclosed by 4 leafy bracts, red-pigmented at maturity. Male flower with dorsally united anthers, each with a terminal appendage. Female flower with a short style and two stigmas. Fruit consisting of 1(–2) fertilized carpels and the fleshy innermost bract; germination partly or wholly viviparous to produce a free-floating seedling.