plant flowering at least 85 cm high. leaves to 47 cm long, minutely appressed lepidote on both sides; sheath broadly elliptic, slightly wider than the blades, very dark purple, nearly black; blade ligulate, broadly rounded with the apiculate apex recurved, 65 mm wide, green with narrow very obscure transverse lines. inflorescence: peduncle erect, stout, bright red; peduncle bracts erect, imbricate, broadly elliptic, apiculate, bright red; fertile part compound, dense, narrow, 32 cm long, ca 10 cm in diameter, glabrous; primary bracts broadly ovate, much shorter than the branches, red; branches simple, suberect, 10–12 cm long, 9–12-flowered, geniculate; floral bracts broadly elliptic, broadly acute or obtuse, to 27 mm long, 4 times longer than the internodes, slightly shorter than the sepals, slightly if at all carinate, coriaceous, smooth. flowers spreading, not secund; pedicel stout, 3–5 mm long; sepals oblong-elliptic, broadly acute to 24 mm long. fruits slender, slightly exceeding the sepals.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1977. Tillandsioideae (Bromeliaceae). in Flora Neotropica.