Cautleya is a small genus of perennial plants of the family Zingiberaceae (the ginger family), found in the eastern Himalayas through to China and Vietnam. Cautleya species grow from short rhizomes which have thick, fleshy roots. They have "pseudostems" formed by the tightly wrapped basal sheaths of their leaves. Depending on the species, the pseudostems may be 25 to 79 cm high. Individual leaves consist of a sheath and a blade. The yellow or orange flowers appear in the summer and are grouped into a spike (inflorescence). Each flower is surrounded by a persistent coloured bract. After fertilization, the seed capsule splits to the base showing a mass of red, grey or black seeds. It consists of two species.