Kerry Lily is a small perennial. The flowers grow in a loose cluster and have six petals, white with purple veins. The leaves are narrow, greyish and grass-like; they grow up from the base and curl slightly. This is one of the rare plants of the British Isles, and in Ireland only grows in a small area of rocky ground near Derrynane, County Kerry. Kerry Lily is mainly a southern European plant and was not discovered in Ireland until the mid 19th century. In 1848 the London Journal of Botany reports it as growing wild near Derrynane in ground which has "never been turned up". The discoverer was the Reverend Thaddeus O'Mahony, Professor of Irish at Trinity College, Dublin, and a keen naturalist.
The flowers appear in June and July.
Kerry Lily only grows in one place in Britain, where it was almost certainly introduced. It is found in western and southern France and many Mediterranean countries including Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.