Plants to 20(-30) cm. Bulbs ovoid, 2-3 × 2-2.5 cm, offsets usually present, tunics dark brown. Leaves 3-6; blade channeled to subterete, narrowly linear, (10-)15-30(-40) cm × 2-5(-8) mm, apex abruptly contracted. Scape 8-25(-30) cm, usually ± equaling leaves. Racemes 20-40-flowered. Flowers: perianth tube blackish blue, obovoid to oblong-urceolate or cylindric, 4-6 × 2-3 mm, teeth white; fertile and sterile flowers ± equal (sterile may be slightly smaller and paler); pedicel declined or nodding, 3-5 mm. Capsules 5-7(-10) × 5-7(-10) mm. 2n = 18, 36, 45, 54, 72. Flowering early--mid spring. Roadsides, fields, woods, abandoned gardens; 0--1500 m; introduced; Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., La., Md., Mass., Mich., Miss., N.Mex., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va.; s Europe; n Africa; sw Asia; expected elsewhere. W. T. Stearn (1990) typified Hyacinthus racemosus and discussed the taxonomically different applications of that name and Muscari racemosum. The latter binomial, misattributed to (Linnaeus) Miller, sometimes has been used for what is correctly called M. neglectum.