The plant height is 30- 100 cm, sometimes up to 2 meters; Rhizomes are thick, tuber-shaped, oval to nearly dumbbell-shaped, fleshy, 8-12cm long, 3-5(7) cm in diameter, sometimes larger, with dense nodes, which are covered with many triangular wide oval sheaths.

The stem is erect, orange-yellow, yellow, taupe or blue-green, without green leaves, and the lower part is covered by several membranous sheaths. Racemes are 5-30(50) cm long and usually have 30-50 flowers; The buds are oblong and lanceolate, with a length of 1- 1.5 cm, and are membranous;

The labellum is oblong-ovoid, 6-7 mm long and 3-4 mm wide, 3-lobed, with a pair of fleshy calluses attached to the foot of pistil and the inner wall of perianth tube at the base, with a mastoid mask at the upper part and irregular short tassels at the edge; The pistil is 5-7 mm long and the pistil foot is short.

Extended data:

Gastrodia elata has no roots and leaves, so it can't carry out photosynthesis. It relies on Armillaria mellea to provide nutrition for growth and reproduction. Therefore, the first step in planting gastrodia elata is to cultivate a certain amount of high-quality Armillaria mellea, and the second step is to introduce gastrodia elata seeds and plant them with Armillaria mellea in time.

The optimum temperature for the growth of Gastrodia elata is 10-30℃, the optimum temperature is 20-25℃, the air relative humidity is about 80%, the soil water content is 50%-55%, and the pH value is 5-6, which is an acidic ecological environment.

Born in sparse forests, open spaces in forests, forest margins and scrub margins, at an altitude of 400-3200m, it is also distributed in Nepal, Bhutan, India, Japan, Korean Peninsula and Siberia.