Plants 300-450 mm high. Corm 9-12 mm diam.; tunics of pale, fine fibres. Stem simple, rarely 1-branched, sheathing leaves 45-55 mm long, green with dry attenuate apices. Foliage leaf solitary, linear, channelled but with margins folded together, 0.7-1.5 mm diam., exceeding stem, often trailing above, sometimes with cormlet in axil. Rhipidial spathes with dry, brown, attenuate tips, inner 35-40 mm long, outer ± half as long. Flowers long-lived, purple, outer tepal limbs with white, wedge-or V-shaped, minutely papillate nectar guides at bases, dark purple in centre, laxly spreading; outer tepals 20-23 mm long, claws 8-9 mm long, with wide, dark violet median stripe, limb 12-15 x 6-8 mm; inner tepals 7-10 mm long, ± erect, 3-lobed, lateral lobes rounded, central lobe 3-4 mm long, tapering to attenuate, laxly twisted apex. Filaments 3.5-4.0 mm long, united in lower ± 2 mm; anthers 4.5-6.0 mm long, sometimes shortly exceeding stigma lobe, dark purple-black; pollen orange-red. Ovary narrowly oblong, 7-9 mm long, usually exserted in mature flower; style branches 7-9 x 1-2 mm, crests narrowly wedge-shaped, ± 5 mm long, erect. Capsules narrowly ovoid, 8-11 mm long. Seeds angular, 1.2-1.5 mm long, angles forming raised, pale, ± spongy ridges.
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