| Description |
Flowers purple, rather tubular, umbel many flowered, stem 30-120 cm, shrivelled at flowering time. Bulb subglobose, 1.5-2 cm diam.; outer tunics whitish, membranous; bulblets absent or few, yellowish or pale brown, the surface (beneath the outer tunic) reticulate-patterned, carried above the bulb on a long stipe beneath the leaf sheaths. Stem (30-)50-120 cm, often purplish, smooth. Leaves (3-)4-5(-7), shorter than the inflorescence, linear, canaliculate, fistulose, often with a pale median stripe on the upper (adaxial) surface, 2-8 mm wide, with sparse teeth on the margins, sheathing the lower quarter to third of the stem, usually withered away at anthesis; sheaths smooth. Spathe 1-valved, up to 8 cm long, broadly ovate at the base, narrowing abruptly to a long beak caducous. Umbel spherical, 2.5-6.5 cm diam. Pedicels smooth, unequal, 1-2 cm long at anthesis, the inner ones then soon becoming erect and elongating to up to 5 cm, forming the impression of a 'two-tiered' umbel; bracteoles present, forming a small, membranous silvery-white involucre around the base of the umbel. Perianth cylindrical-campanulate; segments purple or dull pinkish-purple, narrowly oblong, spathulate or oblong-elliptical, 3-5(-6) mm long, obtuse, truncate or emarginate, smooth, the outer slightly shorter and broader than the inner. Stamens with exserted anthers; filaments usually minutely ciliate-dentate, the outer ones lanceolate-subulate, the inner with the anther-bearing cusp slightly shorter to slightly longer than the expanded undivided basal part and about half to two thirds as long as the lateral cusps; lateral cusps long-exserted; anthers yellow or purple before dehiscence. Style exserted. Capsule subglobose, about 4-5 mm long; seeds 3-4.5 mm long, flattish, black. Flowering time May-June. |
