Robust herb with an annual flowering stem, growing from a bulb, 2-4 cm in diameter. Stem unbranched, 0.8-1.7 m tall and 4-12 mm in diameter, often maroon or purple-brown. Leaves spiralled all along the stem, linear-lanceolate, 4-18 cm long, smaller and less dense towards the top of the stem. Flowers usually 1-3, large, trumpet-shaped, white, often with a purple-brown tinge, pleasantly scented. Tepals 11-22 cm long, recurved in the apical third.