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Description:
Plants 0.8–1.25 m high, trailing from cliffs, ctaphylls usually light purple mottled pale green. Corm globose, 15–24 mm diam.; tunics soft-papery, soon decaying. Stem inclined to drooping, unbranched. Leaves 5 or 6, lower 3 or 4 basal, narrowly lanceolate, 25–35 mm wide, ± trailing distally, main vein and 1 or 2 pairs of secondary veins prominent, margins not thickened. Spike inclined or ± horizontal, strongly secund, 12–20-flowered; bracts fairly soft-textured, outer 50–80 mm long, reaching to between top of perianth tube and top of flower, inner bracts shorter, acute. Flowers ivory to creamy yellow, lower tepals with a spade- or heart-shaped dark red mark in centre, unscented; perianth tube 45–50 mm long, slender below, widening to 6–7 mm diam. in upper 1/2; tepals lanceolate, dorsal largest, 28–32 × 13 mm, extended horizontally, upper laterals ± 21 × 10 mm, curving outward ± from base, lower 3 much smaller, ± 12 × 6 mm, curving gradually outward. Filaments 25–28 mm, exserted ± 10 mm from tube; anthers ± 10 mm long, cream turning to lilac; pollen cream. Style arching over stamens, dividing at or near anther tips, branches ± 5 mm long. Capsules oblong, obtuse, 22–26 mm long. Seeds oblong to slightly sigmoid, 8–9 × 3–4 mm, broadly winged at one end and sometimes weakly at opposite end but hardy at all on the sides. Flowering time: January, rarely in late December.
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