Gagea coreana Nakai, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 46: 603. 1932, not H. Léveillé (1910); G. coreanica Koidzumi; G. lutea (Linnaeus) Ker Gawler var. nakaiana (Kitagawa) Q. S. Sun.

Plants 15--20 cm tall. Bulb ovoid-globose, 5--10 mm in diam.; tunic brown-yellow; bulbels absent. Leaves basal only, 1, narrowly linear, 1.5--22 cm × 3--10 mm, gradually tapering from middle to base, glabrous. Inflorescence 3--5-flowered, umbellate. Floral leaf lanceolate, nearly as long as inflorescence, 4--6 mm wide. Pedicels unequal, glabrous. Tepals yellow, linear or narrowly lanceolate, 9--12 × ca. 2 mm. Stamens 6--8 mm; filaments flat basally. Style 1.5--2 × as long as ovary; stigma inconspicuously 3-lobed. Capsule ovoid to obovoid, ca. 2/3 as long as enlarged, persistent tepals. Seeds globose. Fl. and fr. Mar--Apr. 2 n = 48.

Records of Gagea lutea (Linnaeus) Ker Gawler from China (e.g., in FRPS) are referable to G. nakaiana.

Forests, thickets, grasslands. Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning [India, Japan, Korea, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Sikkim].