Plants 2-4 dm. high, often with scaly branching rhizomes. Leaves many in a dense fasciculate rosette, usually equaling the inflorescence or shorter, densely subappressed-lepidote; sheaths triangular-ovate, conspicuous, ferruginous; blades linear-subulate, filiform-acuminate. Scape erect or ascending, stout. Scape-bracts densely imbricate, lance-elliptic, acuminate, filiform-laminate, subcharta-ceous, densely pale-lepidote. Inflorescence densely digitate from a few spikes or sometimes reduced to a single densely polystichous-flowered spike, ovoid, rarely over 7 cm. long. Primary bracts like the upper scape-bracts, subinvolucrate be-low the inflorescence, their sheaths slightly short-er than the lower axillary spikes, their blades mostly exceeding them. Spikes sessile, elliptic or lanceolate, acute, to 4 cm. long, stout, slight-ly complanate. Floral bracts densely imbricate, broadly ovate, exceeding the sepals, carinate in the distichous-flowered spikes, coriaceous or sub-coriaceous, nearly or quite even, densely lepidote, often red. Flowers subsessile. Sepals lanceolate, acute, 15-20 mm. long, glabrous or sparsely lepidote, the posterior ones much connate. Petals tubular-erect, to 4 cm. long, violet. Stamens exserted. Capsule slenderly cylindric, 25-3 5 mm. long.
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