Bulbs 1-3, not clustered on stout, primary rhizome, ovoid to globose, 0.8-1.4 × 0.8-1.5 cm; outer coats enclosing 1 or more bulbs, brown to reddish brown, chartaceous, lacking cellular reticulation or cells arranged in only 2-3 rows distal to roots, ± quadrate, without fibers; inner coats light brown, cells obscure, quadrate. Leaves persistent, withering from tip by anthesis, 1, basally sheathing, sheath not extending much above soil surface; blade solid, terete, 12-28 cm × 1-3 mm. Scape persistent, solitary, erect, solid, terete, 5-25 cm × 1-3 mm. Umbel persistent, erect, loose, 8-50-flowered, hemispheric, bulbels unknown; spathe bracts persistent, 2-3, 4-6-veined, ovate, ± equal, apex setaceous. Flowers campanulate, 6-9 mm; tepals erect, white to pink, becoming deep pink to red after anthesis, lanceolate to lance-ovate, ± equal, becoming ± rigid in fruit, margins entire, apex acute to acuminate, flaring distally; stamens included; anthers yellow; pollen yellow; ovary crested; processes 6, prominent, ± triangular, margins ± irregularly toothed, apex emarginate; style linear, equaling stamens or shorter; stigma capitate, 3-lobed, lobes slender, recurved; pedicel 6-20 mm, flexuous in fruit. Seed coat shining; cells minutely roughened. 2n = 14.

Flowering May--Jul. Clay or sandy soils on dry slopes; 900--2200 m; Calif.; Mexico (Baja California).