Plant 55-100 (-170) cm tall. Leaf 1-3 cm broad, glabrous, margin smooth. Scape 60-120 cm, glabrous, raceme 20-30 cm, densely many flowered. Bracts linear-lanceolate, 1-2 cm long,mid-vein dark brown, marin ciliate, tip acuminate. Pedicel 1-1.5 cm long, erect, scarsely elongating in fruit. Perianth campanulate, segments 8-13 mm long, pale yellow, brownish towards the tip, greenish outside, turning brown, 3-veined towards the base and 1-veined towards the tip; involute after anthesis, persistent and recurved in fruit. Stamens conspicuously exserted from perianth, saffron coloured (in living material). Capsule 6-12 (-14) mm, usually greenish brown, subglobose, smooth. Seed c. 6 mm long, wings narrow at each end.