The bulb of ''Fritillaria uva-vulpis'' is 3 cm in diameter. The flowering plant is between 30–45 cm (12–18 in) high. The three to five, normally four shiny green spear-shaped leaves are 8–12 cm long and 1–2 cm wide, the upper leaves are smaller. Each stemsstem bears one, rarely two drooping, bell-shaped flowers. The six petals are rounded and a compound of dark purple tinged with grey/pewter on the outside, with an intensely yellow border at the mouth, and gold on the inside.<ref name="Botanica 384"/> The short yellow style is undivided<ref name="Alpine Garden Society 2007"/> and 5–7 mm long. The seed capsule is cylindrical, c. 3 cm long and 1 cm in diameter.<ref name=Rix1974/> ''[[Type locality (biology)|Locus typicus]]'' is the Iraqi town of [[Haji Omran]] (near [[Rowanduz]]), at an altitude of 2100 m. The [[type specimen]] was collected by [[Oleg Polunin]] in 1958.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rix |first1=Martyn |title=Fritillaria uva-vulpis |journal=Curtis's Botanical Magazine |date=2000 |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=159–160 |doi=10.1111/1467-8748.00261 |jstor=45065439 |quote=''Fritillaria uva-vulpis'' [...] Type: Iraq: Rowanduz: Haji Omran, in cultivated ground and cornfields, 2100 m, 14 April 1958, [[Oleg Polunin|Polunin]] 5059 (holotype E; isotype K).}}</ref>
