多球顶冰花 duo qiu ding bing hua

Plants 5--10(--15) cm tall. Bulb ovoid, 4--7 mm in diam.; tunic black-brown, leathery; bulbels many, crowded within tunic. Leaves basal and cauline; basal leaf 1, filiform, semiterete, 7--15 cm × 0.5--0.8 mm; cauline leaves 2 or 3, usually with a floral shoot in axil. Inflorescence 2--6-flowered, resembling a dichasium. Pedicel glabrous or slightly pilose. Tepals white or yellowish white adaxially, pale yellow-green abaxially, narrowly oblong, 5--9 × 1.5--2 mm. Stamens 4--7 mm; filaments much longer than elliptic anthers. Style ca. 2 × as long as ovary; stigma capitate, scarcely lobed. Capsule obvoid, ca. 1/2 as long as persistent tepals. Seeds polyhedral. Fl. and fr. Apr--May. 2 n = 48.

Desert steppes, plains, dry slopes; near sea level to 1200--2000(--?4600) m. Xinjiang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan; SW Asia].