plant with habit of an agave, flowering 2–3 m high. leaves rosulate, 8–10 dm long; sheath large but scarcely wider than the blades, brown-punctulate-lepidote on both sides; blade linear, attenuate, 6–12 cm wide, flat, firm, glabrous above, finely pale-appressedlepidote beneath. inflorescence: peduncle erect; peduncle bracts subfoliaceous, imbricate; fertile part compound with simple branches; primary bracts ovate, acute or acuminate, much shorter than the sterile bases of the spikes, red, densely brown-punctulate-lepidote; spikes laxly and secundly 20-flowered with an elongate sterile base bearing 1–3 bracts, 55 cm long; floral bracts broadly ovate, obtuse and slightly cucullate, 7–15 mm long, much shorter than the sepals, secund with the flowers, ecarinate, coriaceous, faintly nerved, densely brown-punctulate inside. flowers secund, spreading; pedicel very short and stout; sepals elliptic, narrowly obtuse, 15–20 mm long, coriaceous, even, glabrous outside, brown punctulate inside, roseate; petals ligulate with an elliptic blade, 30–35 mm long, yellow green when dry, bearing 2 scales near the base. stamens and pistil included. fruits ovate-oblong, mucronate, 25 mm long.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1977. Tillandsioideae (Bromeliaceae). in Flora Neotropica.