Bulb solitary, subglobose, 1--1.5 cm in diam.; tunic whitish lilac to brownish violet, membranous, entire. Leaves 2, usually shorter than scape, 1--3 mm wide, semiterete, solid, margin minutely scabrous-denticulate. Scape (15--)25--40 cm, terete, covered with leaf sheaths for ca. 1/3 its length. Spathe 2-valved; beak very short. Umbel hemispheric to globose, many flowered. Pedicels shorter than or subequaling perianth, ebracteolate or a few bracteolate. Perianth pale purple to purple-red, lustrous; segments elliptic-lanceolate, 6--7 mm, apex acute. Filaments ca. 1/3 as long as perianth segments, connate at base and adnate to perianth segments; outer ones narrowly triangular; inner ones wider than outer, entire. Ovary applanate-globose, without concave nectaries. Style short, not exserted. Fl. Jun--Jul.

Slopes in Picea forests, meadows, subalpine to alpine slopes; 2400--3400 m. W Xinjiang (Tian Shan) [Kazakhstan (basin of Ili River)].