plant flowering 85 cm or higher. leaves rosulate, coriaceous, densely pruinose-lepidote, 65–70 cm long; sheath orbicular, 8 cm in diameter, forming a pseudobulb, subcasteneous; blade narrowly triangular, long-caudate, 7 cm wide, flat or slightly channeled, contorted toward apex. inflorescence: peduncle erect, stout, 45 cm long; peduncle bracts imbricate, broad-sheathed, the blades 45–50 cm long, ascending to spreading, coriaceous, thick, reddish, white-lepidote; fertile part erect, 40 cm long, laxly once-branched from 20–23 spikes; primary bracts elliptic, long-caudate with a subulate apex, 15–18 cm long, white-lepidote; spikes long-stipitate, lanceolate, complanate, 12 cm long, 15 mm wide, 4–5-flowered, glabrous, green; floral bracts densely imbricate, oblanceolate, 4–5 cm long, much exceeding the sepals, carinate, coriaceous, green, lepidote toward apex. flowers: sepals symmetrical, free, 30 mm long, 8 mm wide, ecarinate, subchartaceous, yellowish green, glabrous; petals tubular-erect, 60 mm long, lilac. stamens and style long-exserted.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1977. (protologue) Tillandsioideae (Bromeliaceae). in Flora Neotropica.