Plants to 20 cm tall. Bulb ovoid, 4--7 mm in diam.; tunic brown, submembranous; bulbels numerous, arranged in a ring around tunic base. Leaves basal only, usually 1, narrowly linear, 20--24 cm × 2--5 mm, conspicuously parallel veined. Inflorescence usually 2--4-flowered, umbellate. Floral leaf lanceolate, slightly longer than inflorescence, 4--8 mm wide. Pedicel glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Tepals yellow adaxially, yellowish abaxially, narrowly elliptic-linear or linear-lanceolate, 9--11 × 1.5--2 mm. Stamens 4--6 mm. Style nearly as long as ovary; stigma capitate, scarcely lobed. Seeds globose. Fl. Jun.

Coniferous forests, thickets, moist grasslands; 1300--2000 m. N and W Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia; Europe].