General:
Perennial garlic-scented herb from an egg-shaped, scaly bulb, the bulbs clustered with several hard-shelled bulblets within the outer scales, which are yellow-brown, vertically grooved, and fibrous; flowering stems erect, 30-100 cm tall, slender, cylindric, solid, smooth.
Leaves:
Usually 2 to 4, borne below the middle of the flowering stem, linear, cylindric, hollow, much shorter than the stem, 1-2 mm wide, long-sheathing at the base, smooth, the margins entire.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a compact, terminal, head-like cluster of several to many, stalked flowers or the flowers largely replaced by bulbils, above 1 membranous, lanceolate bract, the stalks 4- to 5-times as long as the flowers; flowers greenish-white to purplish, bell-shaped, of 6 distinct tepals; tepals 3-4 mm long, oblong-egg-shaped, blunt, erect; stamens 6, the inner 3 longer than the tepals and with filaments bearing a pair of lateral appendages; pistil 1, 3-chambered.
Fruits:
Capsules, more or less egg-shaped, 3-lobed, lacking distinct crests; seeds 6 or fewer, black.
If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.
Illustration Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia