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Description:
Plants 0.6–1.2 m high, with cataphyllsobscurely mottled with green or white. Corm ± globose, 14–20 mm diam.; tunics papery, fragmenting irregularly. Stem erect or inclined, flexed outward above sheaths of 2 cauline leaves, simple or branched. Leaves 4 or 5, lower 2 or 3 basal and reaching or shortly exceeding spike, narrowly lanceolate, (3–)5–10 mm wide, main vein lightly thickened, margins narrowly hyaline, cauline leaves shorter. Spike flexed at base, inclined, weakly flexuose, (3)5–9-flowered; bracts with outer (30–)50–65(–80) mm long, pale green sometimes flushed reddish, inner shorter to ± as long, minutely forked. Flowers cream to pale yellow, lower 3 tepals with spade-shaped yellow marking in midline outlined in dark red, unscented; perianth tube cylindric, expanded in upper 10 mm, (45–)60–110 mm long; tepals lanceolate, dorsal largest, 32–40 × 16–18 mm, extended ± horizontally over stamens, upper laterals 28–38 × 10–13 mm, extending forward, curving outward distally, 3 lower tepals 25–30 × 9–10 mm, extending forward and nearly horizontal, in profile shorter than upper tepals. Filaments 17–24 mm long, exserted 8–12 mm from tube; anthers 9–11 mm long, whitish; pollen cream. Style extending over stamens, dividing just below anther apices, branches 6–8 mm long. Capsules ellipsoid, acute, (25–)35–40 mm long. Seeds ovate, 8–9 × 5–6 mm, broadly and evenly winged. Flowering time: October and November.
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