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Description:
Plants 100–180 mm high. Corm 10–14 mm diam., broadly obconic; tunics dark brown, rugose, basal rim with long, slender, spreading spines. Stem simple or 1–2-branched from base; stem round to slightly compressed. Leaves 1–3, lowermost basal and longest, straight to somewhat falcate, 80–160 mm long, sometimes exceeding flowers, 3.5–5.0 mm wide, strongly ribbed, sparsely woolly (rarely ± smooth), remaining leaves much smaller, resembling floral bracts. Inflorescences spikes of (5–)8–10 flowers, initially 2-ranked, becoming spiral; outer bract 10–15 mm long, acute, ± inflated, rounded, without keels, inner bract ± half as long, transparent with 2 green keels. Flowers white (pale yellow when dry), flushed red on reverse of tepals and tube, lower tepals with red blotch in lower 1/3 and paired, red lines near base running into throat (purple when dry); perianth tube mostly 45–56 mm long, ± uniformly wide throughout; tepals unequal, obovate and markedly narrowed in basal 2 mm, dorsal 16–18 × (7–)9–10 mm, lower tepals held ± horizontally, united basally for ± 1.5 mm, ± 15 × 5.5–6.5 mm. Stamens unilateral± erect; filaments ± 10 mm long, exserted 2–3 mm; anthers 4.5–5 mm, violet, pollen purple. Style dividing opposite anther tips, style branches ± 3.5 mm long, divided for half their length, recurved, white. Capsules and seeds unknown. Flowering time: late August to early October.
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