Named for Tecofila Billiotti, daughter of Professor Colla of Turin c. 1830.

Perennial, cormous, tunicate herb. Leaves linear, sheathing. Flowers bowl-shaped, crocus-like. Inflorescence 1-few flowered, terminal.Tepals 3+3, fused basally. Stamens 3, all upper, staminodes 3, lower, all fused together and attached to tepal bases. Ovary half-inferior, ovoid. Fruit a capsule. Seeds numerous, brown.

Sometimes cultivated as a cool temperate spring ornamental bulb on rich, very well-drained sandy soil.

2 species from Chile.

Cormous plant with half-inferior ovary and 3 fertile upper anthers.

Cowley (1985).

Source: Conran, J. (2005). Tecophilaeaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.