plant flowering to 0.3m high leaves many, forming an obconical utriculate shape, to 0.2m long, to 25 mm wide above the sheath, then gradually narrowing to a very acute tip, leathery, when dry almost flat, above sub-glabrous, underneath appressed grey lepidote so that it seems more or less becoming violet at the base. inflorescence: peduncle enclosed by bracts, short, moderately strong, now erect, now nodding peduncle bracts sheath very thick ( sometimes excepting the uppermost one) with elongated subulate blade, almost inflated, erect, exceeding the internodes inflorescence almost few or almost many flowered, mostly simple, moderately lax but sometimes almost pinnate with at best, 3 distichous spikes, the middle one larger, the lateral ones a little smaller, recurved to erect, laxly arranged; if simple to 12 cm long, 13 mm wide, well complanate, linear, acute tip, to 12 flowered; primary bracts (when inflorescence compound) all the same as the peduncle sheaths, much shorter than the side spikes floral bracts totally lax, barely imbricate, almost erect to erect, leathery, strongly concave, not notably keeled, tip not at all incurved, the back(outside) strongly vein lined, appressed lepidote, to 27 mm long, much exceeding the sepal. flowers erect to 40 mm long sepals almost equally free, to12 mm long, leathery, glabrous, blunt keeled, by no means veined, moderately wide lanceolate, acute; petals main part and tip a continuous erect tube, violet, shorter than the porrect stamens.Edited from : Mez 1935. Bromeliaceae (part 1-4) in Engler, A. (ed) Das Pflanzenreich.