Usually 2-3 bracts, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 1.5-3 mm long, often purplish-black.
It flowers in July.
The scape is slender, 1-5 cm tall, sparsely glandular. 1-4 flowers are borne at the apex of the scape, sessile without pedicels.
It is a perennial herb with a very short rhizome and numerous fibrous roots. The leaf rosettes are less than 1.3 cm tall, usually forming dense cushion-like clusters, with brownish withered leaves at the base.