Last week I bought a Pleione Red Poll.
I've seen pictures of the flowers before but never the plant... now I see why... there is not really any plant there at all when it flowers, just this shrivlled conker thing
It just had a bud when I bought it which had grown considerably by the time I took the first pic. Within only a couple of days it had fully opened in to this great flower.
The last picture is of Pleione maculata which I bought at the same time. This one aparently grows leaves first and then flowers in the autum.