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Tepals all ± similar, 8–11 × 3–6 mm, elliptic to lanceolate, ± involute on the margins, brownish villose or sericeous abaxially, the hairs unequally 3–6-armed(stellate) and ± densely appressed to spreading, with 1 arm more strongly developed than the others.
Flowers usually 4–5 (sometimes 2–10) in a raceme-like arrangement 2–9 cm long; bracts 7–30 mm long, subulate to linear-lanceolate; pedicels ascending, often stout, mostly 3–10 mm long, sometimes to c. 20 mm long, ± sparsely pilose.
Scapes up to c. 42 cm long, somewhat flattened in cross-section, 1–2(3) mm wide, very narrowly strap-shaped, width reducing in steps as pedicels diverge, sericeous to villose with 2–4-armed brownish hairs.
Seeds black and glossy, 1–1.2 × 1.7 mm, subglobose; testa densely papillate, the papillae minute varying from incipient dome-shaped undulations to sharply conical points, the cuticle smooth.
Rhizome vertical, 1.5–3 × 1–2.5 cm and turbinate, becoming subglobose to cylindrical and up to 8 × 4.5 cm after many seasons, equatorially ringed by stout contractile roots.
Capsules mostly 4–6 × 3–4.5 mm, or up to 8 × 4 mm, excluding the persistent perianth, turbinate or narrowly turbinate, circumscissile.
Slender perennial herb 15–67 cm tall, erect to straggling, occasionally tufted with several pseudostems on a rootstock.
Inflorescences 1–8, overtopped by the leaves, the first inflorescences appearing before the leaves.
Filaments 1.5–3 mm long; thecae 2.3–5 mm long, sagittate lobes to c. 1.5 mm long.
Style 1–3 mm long; stigma 1–2 mm long.
