Perennial, erect, cormatous herb; perrenate by underground bulbs or corms, corms globose or depressed at the top; stems usually annual, underground, unbranched; leaves alternate, sheathing the lower half of the stem, lanceolate or sword-shaped, acute or acuminate, glaucous, longitudinally grooved; flowering spikes terminal, many flowered, lax, large, one-sided; flowers large, bisexual, zygomorphic, colourful, each subtended by 2-leathery, small, green bracts; tepals-6 in 2-series, white to cream, pink or orange to red, outer three tepals united at the base into a short tube, limbs expanded, inner-dorsal tepal the largest, arching over the three stamens; stamens-6, attached to base of tepals, filaments exserted, anthers oblong, hastate; ovary 3-locular, styles-3, filiform, spoon-shaped, branched; capsules dehiscent, oblong or globose, many seeded, winged, brown; seeds wrinkled.