Plants 6-12 dm, from thick, twisted rhizomes. Leaves: blade sometimes becoming reddish brown with age, 19-42 cm × 5-20 mm, glaucous abaxially. Inflorescences loosely paniculate, 30-75-flowered, with 2-6 ascending branches, pyramidal, 10-60 × 5-12 cm. Flowers: perianth hypogynous, 20-30 mm diam.; tepals persistent in fruit, white to cream colored, ovate to lanceolate, 9-15 × 3-5 mm, somewhat contracted at base; glands 2, elliptic, margins thickened; pedicel bracts ovate, 5-15 mm. Capsules conic, 10-15 mm. 2n = 52. Flowering mid Jul--Sep. Pine bogs, savannas, sandy pinelands; 0--100 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., Miss., N.C., S.C., Va.