leaves over 12 dm long, densely appressed-ferruginous-lepidote; sheath oblong, entire, scarcely broader than the blades; blade ligulate, acuminate, 7 cm wide, subdensely serrate with broad spines 2 mm long. inflorescence: peduncle slender, decurved, brown-flocculose; peduncle bracts large, narrowly lanceolate, membranaceous, rose, sparsely flocculose, the upper ones divergent; fertile part simple, pendulous, lax, ca 20-flowered, densely brown-flocculose; rachis slender, straight; floral bracts minute, the lowest 2 mm long, triangular, the others hidden by the indument. flowers sessile, subspreading; sepals oblong-lanceolate, acute, 9–10 mm long; petals 5 cm long, blue, spirally revolute at anthesis, bearing 2 lacerate scales at base. stamens: anther 16 mm long, blue when dry. pistil: ovary ellipsoid,(triangular in cross section according to vasquez & ibisch - die brom 1 13; 2000), 12 mm long, bearing dark glabrous longitudinal ridges, the epigynous tube infundibuliform, 2 mm long.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1979. Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae) in Flora Neotropica.