plant 50–80 cm tall by ca 40 cm in diameter. leaves 50–70 cm long; blade 3.5–6.0 cm wide, lingulate, apex acute, subglabrous above, densely appressed lepidote below; sheath ca 18 cm long, 10–12 cm wide, elliptic, dark brown above when dry. inflorescence: peduncle 1.0–1.2 cm in diameter, erect, slightly exceeding leaf-rosette; peduncle bracts 3.5–9.0 cm long, ca 2.5 cm wide, strictly erect, apex acute, completely obscuring peduncle; fertile part ca 30 cm long, 20 cm in diameter, branched of ca 7 to 10 spikes, lax, glabrous; primary bracts 3.0–4.0 cm long, 2.0 cm wide, apex acute, erect to spreading, much shorter than spikes; spikes 9.0–14.0 cm long, 4.0–7.5 cm wide, spreading to arching recurved, 2.5–4.5 cm apart, ca 9 to 19 flowered; rachis strongly alate giving webbed appearance between floral bracts; stipe to 2.4 cm long, naked; floral bracts 2.3–3.0 cm long, 1.3 cm wide, apex acute to obtuse, subcoriaceous, carinate, faintly nerved, glabrous without; slightly lepidote within, erect to spreading, subimbricate at anthesis, strikingly creamy-white when alive, showing up from a good distance, turning dark brown when dry. flowers: sepals 2.8–3.1 cm long, ca 6–7 mm wide, exceeding floral bracts, obtuse, oblong-elliptic, ecarinate, strongly nerved, coriaceous, glabrous without and within, free; petals with blades ca 1 cm long, deep violet, stamens deeply included within corolla. pistil: ovary ca 8 mm long, 3–4 mm in diameter. fruits ca 4.0 cm long, seeds light redbrown; distance between flowers 5–8 mm, in flower around april to may.Edited from : Gilmartin 1972. The Bromeliaceae of Ecuador .