Hesperantha altimontana Goldblatt

Plants acaulescent, 100-120 mm high, flowering before leaves emerge. Corm ± globose, 10-15 mm diam.; tunics of relatively soft, imbricate layers. Stem unbranched, at flowering foliage leaves dry or lacking. Leaves (of the flowering stem) 2, entirely sheathing, 25-35 mm long; green foliage leaf produced later in season, solitary, falcate, 60-80 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, leathery, main vein hyaline but not raised when alive. Spike 1-flowered; bracts ± 20 mm long, green, flushed with purple, inner slightly shorter than outer. Flowers salver-shaped, uniformly creamy white, shading to pale yellow both inside and outside tube; perianth tube 20-27 mm long, cylindric, expanded near mouth; tepals spreading, elliptic-ovate, 20-23 x 9-10 mm, subacute. Filaments erect, ± 3 mm long; anthers diverging, ± 10 mm long, yellow; pollen yellow. Style branches ± 10 mm long, reaching to upper 1/3 of anthers in closed flower.