General: Perennial herb from a bulb of a few larger, fleshy scales and numerous small, rice-grain bulblets; stems 10-25 cm tall, slender to sturdy, smooth.
Leaves: Usually a nearly opposite pair, sometimes several and alternate to nearly whorled, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 3-15 cm long, 2-12 mm wide, smooth.
Flowers: Inflorescence of 1 or rarely 2, drooping flowers atop the stem; flowers yellow, often faintly striped with purple or brown near the base, fading to orange or brick-red, narrowly bell-shaped, of 6 similar, distinct tepals, the tepals lance-oblong to lanceolate, 1.5-2.5 cm long, 4-8 mm wide, with a small, green nectar gland on inner surface near the base; stamens 6; pistil 1, 3-chambered.
Fruits: Capsules, erect, cylindric to egg-shaped, 6-angled, wings lacking, 2-3 cm long; seeds numerous, flattened.
Dry shrublands, grasslands and open coniferous forests in the steppe and lower montane zones; infrequent in S BC east of the Coast-Cascade Mountains; E to AB and S to NM, UT, NV and N CA.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
