Plants usually bulbose; bulb coat, when present, membranous. Stems slender, usually not branching or twisted, 2–5 dm. Leaves: basal withering, 1–2 dm; blade linear. Inflorescences subumbellate, 1–5-flowered; bracts 2–5 cm. Flowers erect; perianth open, campanulate; sepals lanceolate-ovate, 2–3 cm, apex acuminate; petals white or dull lavender to purplish, with longitudinal median green stripe on adaxial surface and sometimes purplish blotch proximal to gland, cuneate to obovate, 2–4 cm, with a few short hairs near gland, apex obtuse to apiculate; glands ± round, slightly depressed, small, surrounded by conspicuously fringed membrane, densely covered with short, distally branching hairs; filaments 6–7 mm; anthers purplish or yellowish, oblong, 7–8 mm, apex obtuse. Capsules erect, lanceoloid-linear, angled, 5–7 cm, apex acute. Seeds flat. 2n = 14.

Flowering late spring--late summer. Dry soil, usually granitic, usually in montane coniferous forests; 1500--3000 m; Calif.