Scape 8-25 cm, slender. Flowers 14-20 mm; perianth violet, tube funnelform, 3-7 mm, transparent, splitting in fruit, lobes widely spreading, 12-19 mm; filaments 4-6 mm; anthers linear, 4-6 mm, apex with V-shaped notch; staminodia absent; ovary 4-6 mm; style 7-11 mm; pedicel 1-5 cm. 2n = 24.

Flowering spring (May). Grasslands near streams, vernal pools; 0--1600 m; Calif.

Brodiaea orcutti is rare and endemic to southern California. It was once abundant on Kearney Mesa north of San Diego, but most of that area has been developed for housing, and only those portions on military reservations remain undisturbed. This is the only species in the genus with no staminodia.