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Information Herbs, perennial, scapose, from fibrous-coated corms. Leaves 1–5, basal; blade narrowly lanceolate, usually keeled and channeled, margins entire. Scape solitary, usually weak, curved to twining, cylindrical, smooth to scabrous. Inflorescences umbellate or racemose, usually dense, 2–20-flowered, bracteate; bracts 2–4, ± papery, not enclosing flower buds. Flowers: perianth 6-tepaled, distinctly connate proximally into tube, tube cylindrical, ovoid, or campanulate, occasionally globose or urceolate, soft, limb lobes similar; perianth appendages arising from intersection of perianth tube and limb lobes, leaning toward or away from anthers, forming corona; anthers basifixed, held close to style; stamens 3 (6 in Dichelostemma capitatum), epitepalous; filaments entirely adnate to perianth tube; staminodia absent (except in D. volubile); pistil 3-carpellate; ovary superior, sessile or stipitate, 3-locular, ovules several; style 1; stigma weakly 3-lobed; pedicel erect or flexuous, articulate beneath perianth, usually shorter than flowers. Fruits capsular, 3-angled, usually ovoid, firm, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds black, sharply angled, coat with crust. x = 9 (8 in D. ida-maia).

Information Leaves 3–4, 30–70 cm; blade strongly keeled. Scape weak, not self-supporting except distal 10 cm erect, otherwise twining, 40–150 cm, scabrous. Inflorescences umbellate, dense, 6–20-flowered; bracts pinkish, widely ovate, 12–15 mm, apex acute. Flowers horizontal or erect; perianth pink or rarely white, tube globose or urceolate, constricted above ovary, 5–7 mm, with 6 sac-like angles, lobes widely spreading, ascending in fruit, 5–7 mm; perianth appendages 2 per stamen, folded inward toward anthers, hiding them and forming corona, white, narrowly lanceolate, 3–4 mm, apex 2-fid into 2 wings; stamens 3, equal; anthers 3–4 mm; staminodia 3, opposite outer tepals, creamy whitish, linear-oblong, 2.5–3 mm, margins ciliate-dentate, involute, apex usually shallowly notched; ovary sessile or short-stipitate, subglobose, 4–5 mm; style 3–4 mm; pedicel 10–40 mm. 2n = 18, 36.