Rhizomes freely branching, forming large clumps, slender, 1–1.2 cm diam., covered with remains of old leaves; roots fibrous. Stems simple, solid, 6–7 dm. Leaves: basal persistent, blade gray-green, green and without pink coloration basally, 6–7 dm × 1.5–2 cm, glaucous, margins not thickened; cauline 1–2, free from stem for ca. 1/2 length, foliaceous, spreading, blade not inflated. Inflorescence units 3(–4)-flowered; spathes widely separated, sometimes by 9 cm, divergent, unequal, outer 6.5–15 cm × 8–14 mm, inner much shorter. Flowers: perianth pale powder blue to lavender or violet, often frilled and veined in violet or darker blue; floral tube funnelform, 0.7–1 cm; sepals oblong-ovate to broadly oblanceolate, 6.2–9 × 1.8–3.7 cm, base gradually attenuate, apex emarginate; petals oblong to spatulate, 5–9.5 × 1.2–2.1 cm, base attenuate, apex apiculate; ovary rounded in cross section, 1.4–3 cm, base gradually attenuate into pedicel, apex abruptly acuminate into floral tube; style 3 cm, crests reflexed, subquadrate, shallowly lobed, 1.1–2 cm, margins entire or obscurely and shallowly lobed; stigmas triangular, margins entire; pedicels of varying lengths, 0.8–4.8 cm on first flower, those of later flowers longer. Capsules oblong, rounded in cross section, tapering abruptly at either end, to 5 cm. Seeds brown, D-shaped or irregular, coarsely wrinkled. 2n = 40.
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