Herbs, annual, cespitose, medium olive when dry, to 2 dm, not glaucous. Stems simple, 0.5-2 mm wide, glabrous, margins entire to denticulate apically, similar in color and texture to stem body. Leaf blades glabrous, bases not persistent in fibrous tufts. Inflorescences borne singly; spathes green, glabrous, keels entire; outer 14-41 mm, 5-12 mm longer than inner, tapering evenly towards apex, margins basally connate 3.3-5 mm; inner with keel evenly curved to straight, hyaline margins 0.1-0.5 mm wide, apex acute to rounded, ending 0-1.1 mm proximal to green apex. Flowers: tepals yellow to orange, usually with brownish veins; outer tepals 2.6-5 mm, apex acute to rounded; filaments connate basally, glabrous; ovary similar in color to foliage. Capsules light to dark brown, globose, 3-8 mm; pedicel recurved. Seeds hemispherical, with deep depression on flattened side, 0.9-1.1 mm, rugulose. Flowering early spring--late summer. Moist areas, meadows, stream banks, woods; 1000--2400 m; Ariz.; Mexico (Chihuahua, Durango).

Plant: annual herb; erect stems, to 20 cm tall; ROOTS fibrous; STEMS 0.5-2 mm wide, simple, the margins entire to slightly minutely dentate, the surface glabrous Leaves: folded lengthwise in iris-like fashion but somewhat flexuous, mostly basal and distichous, the margins slightly hyaline basally; 1.5-4.5 mm wide INFLORESCENCE: an umbel with 2 spathe bracts, the lower (outer) bract enclosing the other (inner); SPATHE BRACTS with the dorsal keels entire; outer bract 14-41 mm long, tapering evenly to the apex, the margins connate basally 3.3-5 mm; inner bract 10-15 mm long, the hyaline margin narrow to moderately wide, ending at the apex, the base straight to slightly curved as it emerges from the outer bract Flowers: yellow to orange and generally with brownish veins; pedicels recurved in fruit, glabrous, at anthesis equalling or longer than the inner bract; tepals 2.6-5 mm long, the outer with acute or obtuse, non-apiculate apices; anthers 0.5-1.6 mm long; filaments united basally; ovary glabrtous Fruit: FRUITS capsule, 3-6(-8) mm long, generally nearly spherical, light to dark brown; SEEDS 0.9-1.1 mm long, hemispherical with a deep depression on the flattened side, the surface reticulate Misc: Ephemeral pools, wet or moist meadows, seeps and streamsides in oak or pine woods; 1000-2400 m (3300-8000 ft); Mar-Sep REFERENCES: Cholewa, Anita F. and Douglass M. Henderson. 1994. Iridaceae J. Ariz. – Nev. Acad. Sci. Volume 27(2), 215.