Plants 5--12 cm tall. Bulb ovoid, 4--6 mm in diam.; tunic grayish brown, distally with a collar of persistent leaf bases 1--2 cm. Stem glabrous or shortly hairy. Leaves basal and cauline; basal leaf 1, narrowly linear or subfiliform, equaling or much longer than stem; cauline leaves 1--3. Inflorescence 1- or 2-flowered, very rarely more flowers in a corymbose raceme. Tepals golden yellow adaxially, greenish brown abaxially, oblong or oblong-ovate, 1--1.2 cm × 2.5--4.5 mm. Stamens 7--9 mm; filaments much longer than subglobose anthers. Seeds flat. Fl. Apr.

Desert steppes, dry slopes. N Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Russia].