Rhizomes shallowly set, 1-1.8 cm thick. Stems erect, 5-9(-11) dm; sheathing bract cauline, papery, caducous. Leaves subsessile or short-petiolate, 4-15 × 2-5.5(-7.5) cm; blade elliptic-lanceolate to broadly ovate, glabrous adaxially, minutely hairy or pilose on abaxial veins; prominent veins 3-9. Inflorescences in most leaf axils except distalmost and proximal 2-4; peduncle sharply reflexed, axillary 1-3(-5)-flowered, to 2 cm in fruit. Flowers: perianth yellowish green, tube 10-13(-15) mm, distinct tips 2-3 mm; stamens inserted high in perianth tube; filaments densely warty; pedicel to 1.3 cm in fruit. Berries 6-9 mm. 2n = 20. Flowering early--late spring. Rich moist wooded slopes and coves; 0--1100 m; N.B., N.S., Ont., Que.; Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.