Habit : Short - stemmed, perennial, acaulescentor caulescent, scapose, forming succulent rosettes on thick, fibrous - rooted crowns, often rhizomatous.
Stem : Aboveground, unbranched or, less often, branched.
Leaves : Evergreenin rosette; blade light green to green and occasionally with lighter patterns of white, linear - lanceolate to ovate, firm to rigid, often thick and fleshy, margins entire with a sharp pointed apical tip.
Inflorescence : Terminal, spicate, racemose, or paniculate, open to dense, bracteate, with flowers borne singly, in pairs, or in umbellikeclusters of 2 - 40 on peduncles or the lateral branches borne by the peduncle.
Flowers :
Protandrous, erect or recurved, showy.
Perianth mostly yellow, infrequently whitish or reddish, funnelform to tubular; tepals 6, connate basally into tube atop a typically constricted neck; limb lobeserect or curved, equal to unequal in length and/or width, linear to oblong or deltate, often papillate at recurved or hooded apex.
stamens 6, exserted, attached atop or within perianth tube; filaments mostly filiform; anthers versatile, linear.
