For some reason orange is a colour nearly missing from the palette. Underground a white true bulb, formed of loosely clustered fleshy scales, gives rise to a stiff greenish stem. The bulb scales are swollen modified leaves arising immediately at the base of the stem. Whorls of 6 or more dark green lance-shaped leaves circle the stem at wide intervals. At the top of the stalk, 1-12 or more orange flowers hang from long stalklets.
Purple dots decorate the inside surface from about the midpoint well into the throat.
The stamens dangle their bright orange anthers well out of the mouth of the bloom. The long single pistil presents its sticky stigma at the level of the anthers, where insects can easily brush off pollen. Flowers appear from late May to early July, depending on the local climate. They are followed by six-angled seed capsules which contain thin flat brown seeds. The range of this bulb encompasses the southern half of British Columbia.