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Description
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Plants 0.70–1.1 mm high. Corm subglobose, ± 25 mm diam., producing stolons from base; tunics papery, light brown, becoming fibrous with age. Stem with 2–several well-developed, suberect, ascending branches. Leaves several in basal fan, reaching ± to base of spike, blades sword-shaped, up to 15 mm wide, medium-textured, plane with prominent main vein, often with a pair of secondary veins ± midway between main vein and margins. Spike arching outward, with up to 30 flowers in 2 rows; bracts brown at tips, becoming entirely brown, 4–8 mm long, outer ± acute, inner forked. Flowers zygomorphic, nodding, funnel-shaped, scarlet, often paler outside, yellow in throat, unscented; perianth tube obliquely funnel-shaped, 14–20 mm long, narrow lower part ± 7 mm long, ± abruptly expanded; tepals directed forward, spreading in upper 1/2, dorsal largest, hooded over stamens, 11–15 mm long, lateral and lower tepals 8–12 mm long. Filaments unilateral, 10–12 mm long; anthers parallel, 6–7 mm long, yellow; pollen yellow. Style arching over stamens, dividing opposite anther tips or up to 2 mm beyond them, branches diverging, 2–3 mm long, notched at tips. Capsules ovoid to globose, broadly 3-lobed, 7–8 mm long. Seeds angular-prismatic, up to 8 per locule, 24 per capsule, light to mid-brown, with a spongy coat. Chromosome number 2n = 22. Flowering time: mainly early summer to midsummer (mid-December and January).
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