Cobra Lily is a very interesting plant, with a mottled reddish-brown spathe, resembling a cobra about to strike. The slender spathe is upheld on a striped and speckled stem that has the quality of snake-skin. The spathe is wide-mouthed and open, offering a good view of the spadix, which holds the actual flowers. Spathe is triangular-ovate, curved forward, and with prominent, rounded spreading lobes on the sides, at the base of the blade at its junction with the spathe tube. Leaves are usual 2, digitately compound, with 5 or more thick, glossy, narrow elliptic leaflets 6-12 cm. The leaf stalk mottled with pink and brown, like the flower. Cobra Lily is found in the Eastern side of the Himalayas, from C. Nepal to SW China, at altitudes of 2000-3300 m. A postal stamp was issued by the Indian Postal Department to commemorate this flower. Flowering: April-June.