plant stemless, flowering about 4 dm high. leaves few, fasciculate, about equaling the inflorescence, all alike, entire; sheath broadly ovate, brown; petioles slender, to 7 cm long, deeply channeled; blade lanceolate, long-attenuate, 17 mm wide. inflorescence: peduncle erect, slender, glabrous; peduncle bracts few, lanceolate, acuminate, the upper slightly shorter than the internodes; fertile part densely racemose, few-flowered, 10 cm long, glabrous; floral bracts narrowly ovate, acuminate, 2–6 times shorter than the pedicels, membranaceous. flowers erect; pedicel slender, to 2 cm long; sepals narrowly triangular, attenuate, 24–35 mm long, 3.5 mm wide, ecarinate; petals linear, 55 mm long, naked, red. pistil: ovary 3/4 superior. fruits slenderly ovoid; seeds caudate.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1974. Pitcairnioideae (Bromeliaceae) in Flora Neotropica.