Scrambling perennial up to 35cm from a woody rootstock. Leaves oblong to linear, sometimes hairy; flowers yellow, two large showy petals and a single small petal; spathes folded, dry inside.

After: Johan Commelin (1629-1692), his nephew Caspar Commelin and possibly his son Caspar, all Dutch botanists. Supposedly the two large petals represented Commelin senior and his nephew, while the smaller one represented the son who never achieved anything notable in the field of botany.