Plants 70-170 cm. Leaves linear-elliptic to narrowly ovate, 20-120 × 3-11 cm, apex acuminate. Inflorescences erect, to 1 m; bracts narrowly ovate to filiform, 1-3 cm. Flowers many, 1.5-2.5 cm wide; sepals light green, very narrowly elliptic to narrowly obovate, apex acuminate to apiculate; lateral sepals slightly oblique, adnate to column foot; petals spreading, green or green with pink overflush, 13 × 7 mm, broader than sepals; lip red-maroon, concave, saccate, 11-17 × 18-28 mm, slightly to conspicuously 3-lobed, middle lobe apically obtuse, margins undulate, lateral lobes partially enclosing column; disc with erect lamellae; column 7-10 mm. Capsules ellipsoid, to 6 cm.

Flowering summer--fall. Moist sand and rich soils, in shaded to sunny habitats, swamps, pastures, and roadside ditches; 10--200[--2000] m; Fla., Ga.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America; tropical Africa.