Slender erect herb, dying back to perennial rootstock, glabrous; stems to 0.3 m long. Leaves: pseudo-stipules absent; petiole ± absent; lamina linear, 6–15 cm long, 0.2–0.4 cm wide; base cuneate; apex acute to attenuate. Flowers solitary; pedicels 0.2–0.5 cm long. Calyx straight to geniculate, white to cream with brown to maroon limb, glabrous outside; utricle subglobose, 0.5–0.7 cm long; tube 10–15 mm long; limb 1-lobed, oblong, 1.5–2.5 cm long, 0.2–0.3 cm wide, apiculate. Fruit subglobose, 1.5–1.8 cm long, 1–1.2 cm diam., not beaked. Seed cordate-triangular, concave-convex, c. 4 mm long, c. 4 mm wide, c. 0.5 mm thick, verrucose on convex face, not winged.