Herbs, perennial, scapose, from fibrous-coated corms. Leaves 1–5, basal; blade narrowly lanceolate, usually keeled and channeled, margins entire. Scape solitary, usually weak, curved to twining, cylindrical, smooth to scabrous. Inflorescences umbellate or racemose, usually dense, 2–20-flowered, bracteate; bracts 2–4, ± papery, not enclosing flower buds. Flowers: perianth 6-tepaled, distinctly connate proximally into tube, tube cylindrical, ovoid, or campanulate, occasionally globose or urceolate, soft, limb lobes similar; perianth appendages arising from intersection of perianth tube and limb lobes, leaning toward or away from anthers, forming corona; anthers basifixed, held close to style; stamens 3 (6 in Dichelostemma capitatum), epitepalous; filaments entirely adnate to perianth tube; staminodia absent (except in D. volubile); pistil 3-carpellate; ovary superior, sessile or stipitate, 3-locular, ovules several; style 1; stigma weakly 3-lobed; pedicel erect or flexuous, articulate beneath perianth, usually shorter than flowers. Fruits capsular, 3-angled, usually ovoid, firm, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds black, sharply angled, coat with crust. x = 9 (8 in D. ida-maia).
Home