Flowering plant 1 dm. high or rarely to 2 dm. Leaves very numerous in a large bulb; sheaths suborbicular to ovate, deep castaneous; blades dimorphic, the outer reduced to spinose-serrate castaneous spines, the inner green, linear, filiform-acuminate, to 7 dm. long and 13 mm. wide, pale-flocculose beneath, soon glabrous, deciduous before anthesis along a straight transverse line slightly above the base, en-tire above that line, spinulose-serrate below it. Scape usually very short and concealed by the leaves. Scape-bracts ovate, acuminate or the lower with a dark slenderly spinose apex, thin, white-flocculose. Inflorescence simple, capitate or sub-spicate, 3-to 12-flowered. Floral bracts like the upper scape-bracts, entire, shorter than the sepals. Flowers erect. Pedicels 3 mm. long, obconic. Sepals narrowly subtriangular, acuminate, 3 cm. long, subalate-carinate, thin, flocculose. Petals linear, to 55 mm. long, red or sometimes white, bearing a sacciform retuse scale well above base. Ovary about half superior. Ovules long-caudate. Capsule slenderly ovoid, acute, shorter than the sepals.
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