Rhizomes creeping, thick, 1.5--2.2 cm in diam., tough. Leaves grayish green, falcate, 10--18 × 1--1.8 cm, base surrounded by brown fibers. Flowering stems ca. 10 cm, leafless; spathes 3, broadly lanceolate, 4--5.5 × 1.5--2 cm, membranous, 2-flowered, margin reddish purple, apex shortly acuminate. Flowers violet, 5.5--6 cm in diam.; pedicel short. Perianth tube ca. 1.5 cm; outer segments obovate, ca. 6 × 1.5 cm, beard yellow; inner segments erect, oblanceolate, ca. 5 × 0.5 cm. Stamens ca. 1.8 cm. Ovary ca. 1.5 cm. Style branches pale purple, ca. 3.5 cm. Capsule narrowly ovoid, prominently 6-veined, apex obscurely beaked, beak slightly thickened and ringlike at tip. Fl. Apr--May, fr. Jun--Aug. 2 n = 24.

Sunny stony hillsides, beside ditches. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Russia].