Asphodelus altaicus Pallas, Acta Acad. Sci. Imp. Petrop. 1779(2): 258. 1783.

Leaves 20--35 × 0.5--2(--4) cm, glabrous, margin smooth. Scape 60--120 cm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Raceme 20--30 cm at anthesis, densely many flowered; bracts lanceolate, 1--2 cm, midvein dark brown, margin pale, membranous, sparsely long ciliate, apex long filiform acuminate. Pedicels ascending, not subappressed to rachis, 1--1.5 cm, slender. Perianth narrowly campanulate; segments yellow or pale yellow, sometimes turning brownish or yellow-brown, narrowly elliptic-oblong or narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 0.8--1.2 × 0.2--0.25 cm, darker and 3-veined proximally, 1-veined distally, involute immediately after anthesis, persistent and recurved in fruit. Stamens conspicuously exserted from perianth by up to 8 mm. Capsule usually greenish brown, subglobose, 0.6--1 cm in diam., smooth; valves rather thin and soft. Seeds narrowly winged at both ends. Fl. May--Jul, fr. Jul--Aug. 2 n = 14.

Several infraspecific taxa have been described from outside China. The plants in Xinjiang may well belong to f. fuscus O. Fedtschenko (Zap. Imp. Akad. Nauk Fiz.-Mat. Otd. 23: 44. 1909), which has also been treated at the rank of species ( E. fuscus (O. Fedtschenko) Vvedensky ex V. V. Nikitin, Fl. Kirghiz. SSR 3: 31. 1951), and is characterized by its yellow or partly brown perianth segments.

Barren lands, sunny, gravelly, and rocky slopes; 1300--2200 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan].