This section is from the book "British Wild Flowers - In Their Natural Haunts Vol5-6", by A. R. Horwood. Also available from Amazon: A British Wild Flowers In Their Natural Haunts.
The habitat of this plant is sandy pastures or other places, dry sandy soil. The habit is that of other bulbous plants, the corm being sheathed, egg-shaped, as large as a pea. The radical leaves are linear, channelled above, slender, bent back, thread-like, flattened at the margin. The scape is solitary, i-flowered, somewhat drooping, with a spathe longer than the tube. The perianth is petaloid, regular, with 6 segments, which are spreading. The flowers are green outside, white inside, with purple stripes, with a yellow claw. The flower-stalk is curved in fruit. The stamens are epigynous on the throat of the tube, longer than the style, with free, hairy stalks. The linear stigma is divided into 2 lobes nearly to the base. The capsule is egg-shaped, and the seeds are nearly round, with a leathery coat. The plant is 4 in. high. It flowers in March, up till May, and is a herbaceous perennial, in danger of being not long hence entirely exterminated.
The habitat of this plant is fields and meadows. The plant is of the usual bulbous habit. The corm is broad and flattened, with net-like fibres in the tubular sheath, torn, and dirty-brown. The scape is enveloped in the latter. The leaves are formed with the flowers. The flowers are white or purple. The spathe is simple. The throat of the corolla has a fringe of hairs. The stigmas are orange, toothed, 3-lobed, the lobes wedge-shaped, erect, jagged. The anthers are pale bright yellow. The capsule is large, the seeds small and red. The plant is 3-6 in. in height, and flowers from March till May, being a herbaceous perennial geophyte.
 
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