Plants usually bulbose; bulb coat fibrous-reticulate. Stems slender, usually branching, 3–9 dm. Leaves: basal withering, 2–4 dm; blade linear to lanceolate. Inflorescences 2–6-flowered; bracts resembling distal cauline leaves. Flowers erect; perianth open, broadly campanulate; sepals ovate to lanceolate, attenuate, 2–3 cm; petals orange-yellow, flecked, broadly cuneate or obovate, ca. 2–3 cm, adaxially bearded with long yellow hairs, margins often red-brown, dentate or fringed; glands round, slightly depressed, ± glabrous, surrounded by ring of long, dense, obscuring yellow hairs; filaments 8–12 mm; anthers lanceolate-oblong, apex acute. Capsules erect, linear, angled, 4–5 cm, apex acute. Seeds light beige. 2n = 18.

Varieties 4 (3 in the flora): California, Mexico (Baja California).