Herbs, perennial, from bulbs; bulbs tunicate, ovoid-oblong, ca. 5 × 2.5 cm; roots contractile. Stems erect, simple. Leaves mostly basal, reduced distally, spiral, arching downward, sheathing proximally; blade linear-elongate, strap-shaped, glabrous, apex obtuse to abruptly acute. Inflorescences terminal, racemose, dense, bracteate, glabrous. Flowers bisexual or both bisexual and unisexual flowers borne on the same or on different plants, cup-shaped to widely spreading, pedicellate; tepals persistent, 6, distinct, white, turning reddish green, claws absent, oblong-obovate, equal to subequal, apex acute; tepal glands absent; stamens 6, perigynous, distinct; filaments subulate, apex acute; anthers basifixed, 1-locular, cordate-ovate, extrorse, opening into peltate disc (apical/valvate dehiscence); pollen sacs apically confluent; ovary superior to partly inferior, 3-locular, diverging; septal nectaries absent; styles persistent, 3, widely diverging, distinct; stigmas terminal, minute. Fruits capsular, deeply 3-lobed, thin-walled, dehiscence septicidal, then adaxially loculicidal. Seeds 1–2 per locule, brownish to purplish black, wingless, ellipsoid, lustrous; testa fleshy. x = 8.
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Fls perfect; tep 6, glandless, oblong-obovate, several-nerved; stamens 6, with long, flattened filaments; anthers dorsifixed, introrse, cordate-ovate with confluent thecae; ovary superior, deeply 3-lobed, appearing like separate carpels, each lobe acuminate into a stout conic style with a minute stigma; capsule 3-lobed, septicidal, each lobe tipped by the persistent style; seeds 1 or 2 per locule, oblong, purple-brown; poisonous perennial herb from a thick bulb, with a cluster of long basal lvs, an erect stem bearing a few greatly reduced lvs, and a dense, terminal, bracteate, white (pink) raceme, the persistent tep commonly turning light green. Monotypic.
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