| Description |
Bulb ovoid, 1-2 cm diam.; outer tunics brown, coriaceous, splitting into fibres at the apex; bulblets present, very darl, usually blackish-purple, irregulary ovate, produced beneath the bulb tunics. Stem 20-100 cm. Leaves 3-5, shorter than the inflorescence, sheathing the lower third to half of the stem, linear, often canaliculate, non-fistulose, keeled, 2-7(-15) mm wide, scabrid on the margin; sheaths glabrous. Spathe 1-valved, about 1.5 cm long with an ovate base, narrowed to a short beak about equal in lenght to the base, caducous. Umbel spherical, 1-4(-5) cm diam., very dense. Pedicels smooth, unequal with the outer ones often very short and the inner ones much longer, up to 3 cm long, smooth; bracteoles present, numeros and conspicuous, silvery-white. Perianth campanulate-ovoid; segments pink to deep purple, or bicolor (purple-whitish or purple-purple pink) sometimes with a darker purplemedian vein and the inner sometimes paler than the outer, the outer ones lanceolate or narrowly ovate, 4-6.5 mm long, keeled, scabrid along the keel, acute or subacute, the inner 4.5-7 mm long, elliptic or oblong-ovate, subacute or obtuse, often noticeably longer and broader than the outer. Stamens with anthers included or rarely slightly/partially exserted; filaments ciliate at the base, the outer simple, narrowly triangular, the inner ones with the anther-bearing cusp a quarter to a third as long as the expanded undivided basal part and one third to one half as long as the lateral cusps; lateral cusps slightly exceedong the segments; anthers usually yellow, rarely purple before dehiscence. Style included. Capsule ovoid-globose, about 4-5 mm long. |
