Mostly bulbous plants. Bulbs formed by foliage leaf bases or thickened cataphylls. Foliage leaves 1-many, filiform, elliptic or circular. Inflorescence scapose simple raceme or rarely a spike or compound raceme, 1-many flowered, generally bracteate. Flowers not articulated from the pedicel, actinomorphic, rarely zygomorphic, hermaphrodite, hypogynous, trimerous. Tepals 3 + 3, polyphyllous or more or less gamophyllous, white, blue, red, yellow, brownish or greenish; inner and outer more or less similar. Stamens 3 + 3, sometimes 1 whorl sterile, sometimes epiphyllous; anthers introrse, dehiscing longitudinally. Pistil, tricarpellary, syncarpous, trilocular, inner septal nectaries present, style with simple or sometimes thickened stigma. Capsule with loculicidal dehiscence. Seeds variable in shape and colour.