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Leaves 5–8, conduplicate, arcuate and gradually tapering to a narrowly acute apex, with broad membranous funnel-shaped sheaths; lamina 1.5–18 cm long and 3–8 mm wide when the folded sides are spread apart, sparsely hispid or glabrous on upper surface, glabrous on lower surface, conspicuously ciliate on the margins and the midrib beneath; the hairs 1–3 mm long, U-shaped with both arms stiffly patent and needle-shaped, or with 1 arm reduced or absent, veins not pronounced; pseudostem up to c. 3 cm long.
Scapes up to c. 11 cm long, filamentous, ± flattened in the lower part, patent hispid with hairs similar to those on the leaf margins, sometimes many-armed with 1 or 2 arms longer than the rest, or glabrous.
Geophyte, up to 60 mm tall. Leaves lanceolate, 25-37 mm long, moderately firm, hairy. Peduncles very slender, hairy, 1-or 2-flowered. Segments hairy outside. Flowers bright yellow.
Rhizome vertical, 10–15 × 6–9 mm, ± cylindrical, equatorially ringed by stout contractile roots, surmounted by persistent membranous leaf remnants.
Seeds black and glossy, c. 1 mm in diameter, globose; testa smooth or papillose, the papillae dome-shaped with a smooth shiny cuticle.
Flowers 1–2, pedicellate; bracts 5–16 mm long, linear-subulate; pedicels ascending, up to 6 cm long, filamentous.
Perianth 12–18 mm in diameter when open; tepals up to 9 × 3 mm, narrowly elliptic, hispid or strigose abaxially.
Capsule 3–5 × 2–3 mm, excluding the persistent perianth, turbinate-cylindric, 8-or 12-seeded, circumscissile.
Inflorescences 1–5, usually appearing after the leaves.
Filaments 2.5–3 mm long; thecae 2–3 mm long.
Style 1.8–2 mm long; stigma 0.5 mm long.
A small perennial herb 3–15 cm tall.
