Plants 5-8(10) cm in height, solitary or in small groups. Bulb 4-10 mm in diameter, roundishly-oviform, covered by thin coriaceous light brown, fiber-l ike tunic, hav ing thin sclerified roots. Vegetative bulbil semi-dro p-shaped, single, in the axil of the second basal leaf and (less often) one or two bulbils in the axil of peduncle leaves below the surface of the soil. Peduncle 0.5-1(2) cm long, covered in soil. Basal leaves 1-2, superficially-grooved (grass-l ike) 2-3 times longer than the inflorescence, base 2 mm broad, gradually becoming less broad, the second leaf is free or it usually accretes in mature plants with peduncle up to the inflorescence. Peduncle leaves verticillate, lower leaf exceeds the inflorescence, at the base up to 3.5 mm broad, upper leaves smaller. Inflorescence 3-30 (or more)-flowered, fasciculate, pedicels unequal, get extended, 0.5-40(55) mm long. Tepals narrowly-lanceolate (tip slender) get extended during flowering, 10-17 mm long, 1-1.7 mm broad, yellow within, white-pale-bordered, external tepals longer and broader. Anthers in flower buds red-violet, subsequently yellow, linear, 2 mm long, dehiscence oblong, 1-1.4 mm long. Ovary roundish-oblong. Capsule oviform, almost twice shorter than the tepals, up to 10 mm in diameter in the first flower, subsequently decreasing (up to 4 mm in diameter). Seeds thin-flat.

Fl. Per.: March-April

Holotype: Punjab, Rawalpindi, 1700 ft, flowers yellow, usually in stony soil, March 1926, R. R. Stewart 4 (K!).

Distribution: E. Afghanistan, Pakistan, N.W. India.