Plants 120-200 mm high, including leaves. Stem reaching shortly above ground level, unbranched or rarely with a single branch, smooth. Leaves lanceolate to narrowly sword-shaped, 70-150 x 4-12 mm, shallowly pleated, shortly hairy but long-hairy at base and upper part of sheath; seedling leaves long-hairy. Spike decumbent, compact, 2-to 6-flowered; bracts (20-)25-30(-35) mm long, green with rust-coloured tips, long-hairy near margins otherwise sparely short-hairy or smooth, inner slightly shorter than outer, forked at apex. Flowers zygomorphic, blue to violet, lower lateral tepals each with a white median mark edged below in dark blue, intensely fragrant; perianth tube 20-35 mm long, curved and slightly flared at apex, tightly enclosing style below, puberulous in upper part, hairs extending onto bases of filaments; tepals subequal, dorsal 24-28 x ± 7 mm, suberect, lower 3 united basally for up to 4 mm, 20-22 mm long, extended horizontally. Stamens unilateral; filaments ± straight, 10-11 mm long, puberulous at base; anthers 6-7 mm long, lilac. Ovary smooth, those of lowermost flowers sometimes shortly stipitate; style dividing at apex or shortly beyond anthers tips, branches spreading, 3-6 mm long. Capsules subglobose, ± 8 mm long.
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Acaulescent, geophyte mostly to 8 cm including leaves. Leaves narrowly sword-shaped, long-hairy on sheaths, short-hairy on blade. Flowers zygomorphic, in a congested spike at ground level, violet with white markings on lower tepals, tube 20-35 mm long, inner bracts forked apically, ovary smooth.
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