Herbaceous perennials to 1 m tall or more, stems erect. Leaves: Alternate, usually 3-5, orbiculate to broadly ovate or oblanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, 8-21 cm long and 1.5-12 cm wide, erect to spreading, proximal or more evenly spaced along the stem. Flowers: Flowers bright yellow, large and showy, with a protruding lower lip petal and 3 large, lanceolate bracts with one top bract and 2 side bracts on either side of the lower lip, the lip yellow or rarely white, oblanceolate-ovoid or subglobose, 20-54 mm long, the throats 10-27 mm wide, the distal most bract (and often the next) with the underside sheathing and densely and conspicuously silvery-pubescent when young, later sometimes becoming glabrescent, sepals 19-80 mm long and spreading wide, commonly spotted, striped, and reticulately marked with reddish brown or madder, rarely extensively blotched or wholly unmarked, staminodes cordiform-ovoid, deltoid, lance-ovoid, or ovoid-oblong, flowers borne in groups of 1-2, with a moderate to faint, rose or musty scent. Fruits: capsules dehiscing by longitudinal slits. Seeds numerous, minute. Flowering late May to early July.