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Perennial geophyte, 600-700 mm high; rhizome with strong fibrous tunic, distinct in its slender, tall, strap-like leaves, bending above false stem. Leaves 4-12, linear, 320-800 x 4-13(-20) mm, veins flush with surface, few close to margins thickened and raised on upper surface, hairs on blade sparse, strong on margins and lower midrib or forming a furry covering. Flowers 3-9, yellow; tepals 8-20 x 3-6 mm; anther apex entire; ovary 4-5 mm long; style shorter than stigma. Flowering time Sept.-Mar.
Scapes up to c. 37 cm long, overtopped by the mature leaves, somewhat flattened in cross-section, 1–2(3) mm wide, densely appressed pubescent to ascending hispid particularly towards the apex and on the margins towards the base, the hairs 3–6-armed (stellate) with arms directed to apex and base; bracts 7–20(30) mm long, subulate to linear-lanceolate; pedicels 0–6(10) mm long, erect-ascending, the upper flowers mostly sessile.
Outer tepals 5–15(22) × 3–5 mm, narrowly elliptic with ± involute margins, silvery strigose-sericeous abaxially; inner tepals 6–10 × 4–7 mm, ± broadly elliptic, glabrous except for the abaxial midrib, the hairs unequally 3–8-armed usually with one arm strongly developed.
Seeds black and glossy, 1.2 to 1.7 mm in diameter, globose; testa papillose, the papilla minute varying from incipient dome-shaped undulations to sharply conical points, the cuticle smooth and shiny.
Rhizome vertical, 3–5 × 1.5–6 cm, turbinate to hemispheric with a flat base, or up to c. 8 cm long and ± cylindrical, equatorially ringed by stout contractile roots.
Capsule 4–8 × 3–7 mm, turbinate, 16-to 20-seeded, circumscissile.
Flowers 3–14(23) in a spiciform arrangement 3–12 cm long.
Inflorescences 1–6, usually appearing with the leaves.
Filaments 1.3–1.6 mm long; thecae 3–4.5(5.7) mm long.
Style 0.5–1(2.3) mm long; stigma 1–2(3.5) mm long.
Robust pilose perennial herb to 80(95) cm tall.
A herb or lily like plant.
