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Description:
Deciduous geophytes. Corm globose, axial in origin; tunics of fine, netted fibers. Cataphylls 2 or 3, membranous or papery. Leaves several, unifacial, linear to narrowly sword-shaped, mostly basal, in a tight 2-ranked fan, blades plane, with a definite main vein, leathery; margin without vascular bundle, epidermal cells columnar with thickened walls. Stem subterranean, branched below ground. Inflorescence subterranean, branched, of 1(2) sessile flowers terminal on axes; bracts oblanceolate, membranous, concealed by leaves, inner 2-veined and slightly shorter than outer, notched apically. Flowers actinomorphic, long-lived, salver-shaped, yellow (rarely light orange), unscented, with nectar from septal nectaries; perianth tube elongate, cylindric; tepals subequal, spreading, lanceolate. Stamens symmetrically disposed, erect; filaments inserted shortly below top of perianth tube; anthers suberect, yellow. Ovary subterranean, club-shaped and conspicuously stalked; style filiform, 3-branched distally, branches narrowly oblanceolate, longitudinally folded. Capsules borne at ground level, ellipsoid, conspicuously stalked, cartilaginous. Seeds globose, flattened at chalazal end, hard, smooth and shiny, testal cells obscured by thick cuticle; ovular vascular trace excluded. Pollen monosulcate-operculate, operculum 2-banded, exine perforate-scabrate. Basic chromosome number x = 10.
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