Scape 10-50 cm, stout. Flowers 24-38 mm; perianth bluish purple to violet, tube funnelform, 8-19 mm, opaque, not splitting in fruit, lobes ascending, recurved distally, 15-30 mm; filaments 4-6 mm, base not triangular; anthers linear, 4-10 mm, apex rounded; staminodia erect or slightly recurved distally, distant from stamens, white to pale lilac, broad, equaling stamens, 6-9 mm, margins planate or 1/4 involute, apex rounded; ovary 9-15 mm; style 7-15 mm; pedicel 5-10 cm.

Documentation is needed to verify that this species ranges as far north as Polk County, Oregon, and as far south as San Diego County, California. Most of the plants included in Brodiaea coronaria by W. L. Jepson (1923-1925) have been moved to B. elegans (R. F. Hoover 1939b; T. F. Niehaus 1980; P. A. Munz 1959).