Corms 1.2--2 cm in diam.; tunic yellowish brown, membranous. Leaves 6--15, 8--10 cm × ca. 2 mm at anthesis, ca. 20 cm × 5 mm in fruit. Flowers fragrant. Perianth white with yellow center, striped or spotted gray or blue abaxially; tube 2.5--6 cm; segments narrowly oblanceolate, outer ones ca. 2.5 cm × 6--8 mm, inner ones narrower than outer. Stamens ca. 2.5 cm; anthers orange-yellow. Style filiform, 3-lobed at apex; lobes white to deep yellow, short. Capsule ellipsoid, ca. 1.2 cm × 8 mm. Seeds light to reddish brown, ovoid, with small, white appendage. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Jul--Aug. 2 n = 20.

Mountain slopes, riverside grasslands; 1200--3000 m. NW Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan].