Plants bulbose; bulb coat membranous. Stems 4-6 dm. Leaves: basal withering, 2-3 dm; blade linear. Inflorescences subumbellate, 1-3-flowered; bracts 2-8 cm. Flowers erect; perianth open, campanulate, each member with median brown or purple blotch surrounded by bright yellow zone; sepals lanceolate, attenuate, 2-4 cm; petals white to yellowish or lavender, usually streaked with purple toward base, obovate to cuneate, rounded, 2-4 cm, with a few short hairs near gland, apex retuse to obtuse; glands linear, strongly chevron-shaped to weakly lunate, not depressed, densely covered with short hairs; filaments 7-9 mm; anthers lanceolate-linear to oblong, 8-10 mm, apex acute to obtuse. Capsules erect, linear, angled, 5-6 cm, apex acute. 2n = 12, 14, 20, 26.

Flowering late spring--mid summer. Open slopes, dry meadows or wooded places in valley grassland, foothill woodland, pine forest; 0--1700 m; Calif.