Very variable, short to medium, tufted plant. Leaves 1 or 2 linear, cylindrical, hollow, grey-green. Flowers pale purple or lilac, with a deep mid vein along each pointed tepal, narrow, bell shaped.

Often found close to habitation as a casual escape from cultivation where it may persist in small colonies.

Flowering June to August.

Perennial.

Occasional but quite widespread as a naturalised plant in Britain.

Rare or under recorded as a wild plant in Leicestershire and Rutland. It was not recorded in the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire.