Rhizomes very short. Roots thick, transversely wrinkled when dry. Leaves deep or grayish green, glossy, narrowly linear, 5--30 cm × 1.5--6 mm, midvein absent, base surrounded by dense, straight fibers, apex gradually narrowed, very acute. Flowering stems not or barely emerging above ground, or 10--20 cm, slender; spathes 2, yellowish green, membranous, 1-flowered. Flowers dark blue, violet, or light purple, 3.5--5 cm in diam.; pedicel ca. 5 mm. Perianth tube ca. 2 cm; outer segments darker mottled at margin, narrowly oblanceolate, 3--4 × 1--1.5 cm, beard of yellow hairs; inner segments flaring outward, oblanceolate, 2.5--2.8 × 0.4--0.7 cm, apex retuse. Stamens ca. 1.5 cm. Ovary ca. 1.2 cm. Style branches ca. 2.3 cm. Capsule narrowly ovoid, apex with persistent perianth tube. Seeds brown, pyriform, with yellowish white aril. Fl. May, fr. Jun--Aug.

Forest margins, dry hillsides, sandy grasslands, grasslands on sunny hillsides, dunes. Gansu, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shanxi, Sichuan [Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia].