Plants 3--6 cm tall. Bulb ovoid, 4--5 mm in diam.; tunic brown, reticulate veined, distally with a collar of persistent leaf bases 1--1.5 cm; bulbels absent. Stem grayish white pubescent, particularly proximally. Leaves basal and cauline; basal leaves 1 or 2, filiform-linear, 4--8 cm × 0.6--1 mm, keeled abaxially, margin involute; cauline leaves 2 or 3, margin ciliate. Inflorescence 1- or 2-flowered. Tepals yellow adaxially, dark purple abaxially, linear or narrowly oblong, 8--10 × ca. 2 mm. Stamens 6--7.5 mm; filaments ca. 2 × as long as oblong anthers. Style slightly longer than ovary; stigma capitate, scarcely 3-lobed. Seeds flat. Fl. May.

The presence of this species in China requires confirmation.

Alpine steppes, hillsides along ravines. ?SW Xinjiang (Wuqia Xian) [Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan].