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Description:
Plants 600–900 mm high, with large, green to purple cataphylls. Corm c. 15 mm diam.; tunics of brittle papery layers, outer becoming irregularly broken, rarely subfibrous, reddish brown. Leaves 4 or 5, lower 3 or 4 basal or nearly so, blades narrowly lanceolate to more or less linear, 7–12 mm wide, at least reaching base of spike, sometimes shortly exceeding it, firm textured with main vein and margins lightly thickened; upper 1 or 2 leaves cauline and much shorter. Stem simple, usually inclined or drooping, 3–4 mm diam. below first flower. Spike 3- to 8-flowered; bracts green, becoming dry and brown above, 40–50 mm long, inner slightly shorter than outer. Flowers white, lower tepals each with a dark red to violet spade shaped mark in lower midline and usually with dark streaks in throat; perianth tube cylindric below, upper part curved outward and flared, (42–)50–90 mm long, wider upper part c. 12 mm long; tepals nearly equal, broadly obovate, 30–35 x 20–22 mm. Filaments 22–28 mm long, inserted at top of cylindric part of tube, exserted for 5–8 mm; anthers 9–12 mm long, apices with obscure appendages less than 0.2 mm long. Ovary c. 5 mm long; style arching over stamens, dividing just beyond anther apices, branches c. 4.5 mm long. Capsules oblong-ellipsoid, 30–35 mm long; seeds oval to oblong, 9–11 x 5–7 mm, broadly winged. Chromosome number 2n = 60. Flowering time: March to June, sometimes into July.
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