Bulb solitary or clustered, narrowly ovoid, 1--2 cm in diam.; tunic dirty gray, papery, apex fibrous. Leaves shorter than scape, 1--2 mm wide, semiterete, fistulose, smooth or minutely scabrous-denticulate along angles. Scape terminal, 20--40 cm, terete, smooth or minutely scabrous-denticulate, covered with leaf sheaths only at base. Spathe 2-valved, persistent. Umbel globose, densely many flowered. Pedicels 1--2 × as long as perianth, bracteolate. Perianth white to pale red, sometimes greenish; segments usually with pale red midvein; outer ones oblong-ovate, 4--5.2 × 1.8--2.7 mm, apex obtuse; inner ones oblong to ovate-oblong, 4--6 × 2--2.9 mm, apex obtuse or retuse, sometimes irregularly denticulate. Filaments subulate, equal, 1/5--1/2 as long as perianth segments, connate at base and adnate to perianth segments. Ovary ovoid-globose, with concave nectaries covered by hoodlike or sometimes tongue-shaped projections at base. Style exserted. Fl. and fr. Aug--Sep.

* Shady and damp slopes, valleys; 1300--2000 m. Gansu, WC Hebei (Xiaowutai Shan), W Nei Mongol (Helan Shan), E and N Ningxia (Helan Shan, Yanchi Xian), Qinghai (Jigzhi Xian), N Shaanxi (Jingbian Xian), W Shanxi (Wuzhai Xian, Zhongyang Xian).