Plants bulbous herbs; bulbs 5-7 cm tall, narrowly ovoid, tunix thick, brown. Stems 40-100 cm tal, robust. Leaves basal, flaccid up to 35 cm long and 1 cm wide, decreasing upwards. Racemes with 8-40 flowers; bracts 20-35 mm long, narrowly lanceolate to subulate, entire; pedicels 10-25 mm long. Flowers funnel-shaped,pink, pinkish white, lavender, pale, or rose-purple; perianth mouths 8-12 mm in diameter; tepals 35-50(-65) mm long, linear oblanceolate, more or less spreading, tips recirved; stamens almost as long as the tepals; anthers 6-10 mm long, dark purple; pollen orange-red; styles columnar, rather long; stigmas 3-lobed, lobes slightly recurved. Capsules 20-25 mmm long, 15-20 mm in diamerter, obovoid-ellipsoid, tips depressed; seeds about 5 mm long, brown, semicircular to cuneate, tips rotund.
Notholirion thomsonianum has been collected at several locations in Pakistan. It is also known from Afghanistan and Kumaon Division, Uttarakhand, India. It is often cultivated. Collection of bulbs from native populations is strongly discouraged.