Plant 7-17 cm tall at flowering. Bulb covered by coarsely reticulate-fibrous tunics, sometimes bulbils present at the base. Leaves 1-3 from each bulb, not longer than flowers, later up to 30 cm long, 1.5-3.0 mm broad, 4 angled in cross section. Aerial stem obsolescent. Flower solitary. Spathe up to 9.0 cm long, outer green, enclosing the narrow and inner membranous one. Pedicel up to 4.0 cm. Perianth very variable in colour, pale blue to violet, purple; tube 4-7 cm long, mostly covered by spathe; falls 3.2-5.5 cm long, haft 2.1-3.8 cm long, darker than rests of the flower; standards 3-5.2 cm long, erect oblanceolate. Stamens with filaments 1-2 cm; anthers 6-11 mm long. Stylar branches 3-5 cm long, with lobes 1-1.5 cm long, stigma deeply bilobed. Capsule 3.0-5.5 cm long, ellipsoid, shortly beaked, more or less at the ground level. Seeds arillate.