Leaves 3–4, 30–70 cm; blade strongly keeled. Scape weak, not self-supporting except distal 10 cm erect, otherwise twining, 40–150 cm, scabrous. Inflorescences umbellate, dense, 6–20-flowered; bracts pinkish, widely ovate, 12–15 mm, apex acute. Flowers horizontal or erect; perianth pink or rarely white, tube globose or urceolate, constricted above ovary, 5–7 mm, with 6 sac-like angles, lobes widely spreading, ascending in fruit, 5–7 mm; perianth appendages 2 per stamen, folded inward toward anthers, hiding them and forming corona, white, narrowly lanceolate, 3–4 mm, apex 2-fid into 2 wings; stamens 3, equal; anthers 3–4 mm; staminodia 3, opposite outer tepals, creamy whitish, linear-oblong, 2.5–3 mm, margins ciliate-dentate, involute, apex usually shallowly notched; ovary sessile or short-stipitate, subglobose, 4–5 mm; style 3–4 mm; pedicel 10–40 mm. 2n = 18, 36.
Clay or granite, bushy or open slopes below 750 metres in California, where it clambers over shrubs.
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