Bulbs usually clustered, cylindric, 0.4--0.8 cm in diam.; tunic red-brown, lustrous, scarious to subleathery, laciniate. Leaves subequaling to slightly longer than scape, 2--3 mm wide, adaxially channeled. Scape (10--)30--50 cm, terete, covered with leaf sheaths only at base. Spathe 3-valved. Umbel globose, many flowered or sometimes few flowered. Pedicels 1--3 × as long as perianth, bracteolate. Perianth red to purple-red; outer segments oblong, 3.5--4.5 × 1.8--2.3 mm; inner ones ovate, 4--5 × 2--2.5 mm. Filaments subulate, equal, ca. 2 × as long as perianth segments, connate at base and adnate to perianth segments. Ovary obovoid, with concave nectaries covered by hoodlike projections at base. Style exserted. Fl. and fr. Aug--Sep.