Plants perennial, base with overlapping bud scales. Leaves developing at same time as flowers; petiole broadly winged, ca. as long as to shorter than leaf blade; leaf blade oblanceolate, 2--10 X 0.5--2.5 cm, enlarging to 20 cm at fruiting, tapering to base, glabrous, margin entire to obscurely denticulate, apex rounded to obtuse. Scapes 4--12 cm, to 40 cm in fruit, crimson pubescent toward apex. Calyx 6--12 mm, pubescent outside, parted nearly to base; lobes lanceolate, margin sometimes dentate near apex. Corolla purple, infundibuliform; tube ca. 2.5 cm, gradually enlarged upward from base, pubescent outside; limb 2--3.5 cm wide; lobes oblong to obovate, ciliate, margin emarginate and obscurely dentate at apex. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube; filaments ca. 5 mm, glabrous; anthers 3--3.5 mm. Ovary glabrous; style included. Capsule 1.5--2 cm. Fl. Jul. 2n = 96.