Iris cathayensis has a brown, tough, knobbly rhizome that has dark red leaf bases (from last season's leaves).

[2][3] It has linear, greyish-green, 15–25 cm (6–10 in) long and 3–4 mm wide at blooming time.

It also has 3.5–4 cm (1–2 in) long and 3 mm wide, linear style branches, the same colour as the petals.

[7] In 2005, a study was carried out to find out the chemical composition of Iris cathayensis.

[8] It is written as 华夏鸢尾 in Chinese script and known as hua xia yuan wei in China.

[9] The Latin specific epithet cathayensis refers to Cathay, the anglicized version of "Catai" and an alternative name for China.

It was published and described by Hisao Migo in the Journal of the Shanghai Science Institute Sect.

[2][9] It is found growing on open hillsides and grasslands,[2] and low-altitude mountain meadow slopes.