Plants wandlike or candelabra-form, 7–40(–50) cm. Basal leaves persisting; petiole present or absent; blade linear-lanceolate to linear, margins usually deeply to shallowly lobed, rarely entire. Cauline leaves: petiole present or absent (proximal leaves), absent (distal leaves); blade linear-lanceolate to linear (proximal leaves), ovate-lanceolate (distal leaves), to 9 cm, margins deeply to shallowly lobed or entire. Bracts mostly white with green margins, conspicuous and showy, outer broadly ovate, inner obovate, outer 7–14.7 × 4.2–10.4 mm, inner 4.1–5.8 × 2.7–3.5 mm, width 1/2–7/8 length, concealing capsule, margins usually deeply 3–9-lobed to toothed, rarely entire. Flowers: sepals 1–4 mm; petals orange proximally, pale yellow to yellow distally, 2–8(–10) mm, apex retuse; stamens 20–40, 1.5–5 mm, filaments monomorphic, filiform, unlobed; styles 1.5–5 mm. Capsules cylindric or clavate, 5–12 × 2–3 mm, axillary curved to 10° at maturity, usually inconspicuously longitudinally ribbed. Seeds 10–25, in 2+ rows distal to mid fruit, tan, dark-mottled or not, irregularly polygonal, surface tessellate under 10× magnification; recurved flap over hilum absent; seed coat cell outer periclinal wall domed, domes on seed edges less than 1/2 as tall as wide at maturity. 2n = 18.
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