leaves about 16 in a spreading rosette, 6 dm long; sheath distinct, suborbicular, entire, broadly membranaceous-margined, lepidote on both sides especially toward base; blade ligulate, acute, filiform -apiculate, contracted at base, 3–6 cm wide, reguŽlarly and subdensely serrulate with antrorse curved spines nearly 1 mm long, chanŽneled, undulate along margin, lepidote on both sides, green above, often purple-brown beneath. inflorescence: peduncle almost none; fertile part sunk in the center of the rosette, subcorym-bose-compound, depressed-pyramidal, many-flowered; primary bracts foliaceous, dark red, exceeding the inflorescence; branches 8-flowered; floral bracts obovate, mucronulate, 30 mm long, slightly exceeding the centers of the sepals, carinate, memŽbranaceous, white, entire, subglabrous. flowers sessile, 56 mm long; sepals subsymŽmetrical, oblong-elliptic, rounded and apiculate, 20 mm long, connate for 7 mm, conŽvolute, greenish white toward base, reddish toward apex; petals erect, obtuse, cuculŽlate, free at base, connate a little above and then free again, bearing 2 fimbriate scales 10 mm above the base, white with greenish apex. stamens included, filaments of the second series adnate to the petals for most of their length; anther 6 mm long; pollen biporate. pistil: ovary angled, 12 mm long, 6 mm in diameter, white, glabrous; placentae slightly above center of cell; ovules obtuse.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1979. Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae) in Flora Neotropica.