It has narrow green leaves, long stem and violet or blue flowers.

[5][6][7] It has the fibrous remains of last seasons growth leaves, similar to a bulb at the top.

[2] It is written as 单苞鸢尾 in Chinese script and known as dan bao yuan wei in China.

[10] The Latin specific epithet anguifuga means snake-bane or snake-chaser.

[2][14] It is vigorous in full sun, but will tolerate partial shade (under Deciduous trees), but with reduced flower growth.

[2][11] It is unique in its growth habit as a rhizomous iris, as it is dormant and leafless during most of the 'normal' growing season, then in late fall / autumn (in China), it begins to grow new leaves and is evergreen through the winter and produces flowers in the spring and goes dormant again.

[3] In colder regions (the US and UK), it acts like a bulb, dormant through to the spring before emerging and producing leaves and flowers (in a shorter period) before disappearing in summer.

[11] When the iris, has finished flowering, most of the plant withers away, apart from a growth point, which is similar in form to a bulb.

[2] Resembles a skinny spuria iris, evergreen during winter, but dormant during summer and starts growing again in mid-autumn.

[2] It is cultivated in the western part of Hubei in China as a medicinal plant.

[11] It is thought in China, that the iris has the ability to keep snakes from entering the garden.