leaves to 9 dm long (?); sheath reniform, to 9 cm wide dark-castaneous, densely brown-lepidote at apex, elsewhere glabrous; blade narrowly triangular, long-attenuate, 5 cm wide, glabrous above, covered beneath with appressed cinereous scales, serrate with spines 10 mm; long. inflorescence: peduncle erect, 25 mm in diameter; peduncle bracts erect, exceeding the internodes, the lowest subfoliaceous with broad sheaths, the highest broadly elliptic, attenuate at apex, strongly serrulate; fertile part simple, subcylindric, somewhat interrupted toward base, 4 dm long (when young); floral bracts subascending to spreading, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, to 23 mm long, about equaling or exceeding the flowers, pectinate-serrulate. flowers subascending, less than 15 mm long; pedicel 6 mm long; sepals lance-elliptic, 11 mm long, glabrous; petals barely exceeding the sepals, linear, 2 mm wide. stamens: anther 2.5 mm long. pistil: style half as long as the ovary.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1974. Pitcairnioideae (Bromeliaceae) in Flora Neotropica.