Plants acaulescent to short-caulescent. Stems erect, to 2 m. Leaf blade lanceolate, 40-60 cm, apex long-tapering. Inflores-censes racemose, 8-18 dm; peduncle 0.3-0.5 m. Flowers 3.5-4.5(-5.2) cm; style 7-10 mm. Capsules deeply constricted, 3.5-5.5 cm.

Flowering late spring--early summer. Loamy, rocky soils; 2500 m; Utah.

J. L. Reveal (1977c) separated var. avia from var. kanabensis, and believed it to be more closely related to var. angustissima. S. L. Welsh et al. (1993) considered var. avia to be a northern, high elevation variant at the end of a cline within the species. It occurs in loamy, rocky soils instead of the sandy soils that the other varieties inhabit. Little is known about this variety.