Slender, 1–3 dm; rhizomes up to 1 cm thick; lvs lance-elliptic or lance-ovate, sessile, at anthesis 2.5–6 cm, acute or subobtuse, about equaling or surpassing the pet; pet white, aging to pink or rose-purple, undulate, 1.5–3 cm, ovate or lance-ovate; filaments broadened at base, up to about as long as the linear anthers; style straight, erect, 2 mm, or nearly obsolete; stigmas recurved; ovary obtusely trigonous, flask-shaped, as also the fr; 2n=10. Several slightly differing, ± disjunct populations have been segregated as vars. on doubtfully sufficient grounds. Plants from coastal N.C. and S.C. are var. pusillum; those of coastal Va. and Md. are var. virginianum Fernald; those of montane Va. and adj. W.Va. are var. monticola Bodkin & Reveal; those of c. Ky. to n. Ala. and sw. Tenn., and of the Ozark region of s. Mo. and Ark., avg larger than the others, are var. ozarkanum (E. J. Palmer& Steyerm.) Steyerm. (T. o.)
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