The scape is erect, 30–70 cm tall, bearing a terminal umbel of four to eight flowers, which can be white, yellow, orange, or red.

In phylogenetic analyses based on chloroplast genes, Hori et al. found that all species of Lycoris they examined were nested within L. radiata.

[8] Lycoris are extensively cultivated as ornamental plants in China and Japan, and also in other warm temperate regions of the world.

In Japan, they are widely used at the edges of rice paddy fields to provide a strip of bright flowers in the summer, and over 230 cultivars have been selected for garden use.

God, exasperated by their waywardness, separated the miserable couple, and laid a curse on them as a punishment: the flowers of Mañju shall never meet the leaves of Saka again.

In commemoration of the couple, some call the herbs "mañjusaka" (曼珠沙華; 曼珠沙华), a compound of "mañju" and "saka", instead of their standard name, shísuàn (石蒜).