plant flowering about 40 cm high, stemless, with short stolons, often in large groups. leaves numerous, forming an erect, lax, to 20–30 cm high and 30 cm wide rosette ( fig; 13); sheath distinct, 4,5 cm long, 2,5 cm wide, both sides brown scaled; blade narrow-triangular, filiform, long acuminate, both sides densely silver-gray scaled, ± 20 cm long, above the sheath 1,5 cm wide; edges bent to form a groove. inflorescence: peduncle erect, thin, 14–20 cm long, so long as or shorter than the rosette leaves, 3 mm thick, rounded, dark-crimson, bald, weakly long furrowed; peduncle bracts densely imbricate, erect,adjacent to the peduncle and enclosing it, longer than the internodes, dark-red, grey scaled, basal ones with short blade, the upper ones bladeless; fertile part erect or pendent , simple or digitately compound of a few spikes; spikes narrow, complanate, 7 mm wide, 10–15 cm long, to 15-flowered; rachis green, straight, flattened, glabrous, at anthesis partially visible; floral bracts densely distichous, 2,6 cm long, at widest 1 cm wide, lanceolate, acuminate, ecarinate to indistinct carinate, weakly scaled to glabrous, nerved (particularly when dried ) dark crimson, tips at anthesis already dried off, longer than the sepals (fig; 14, right). flowers erect to spreading, short stemmed,(stem 1,5 mm long), 3,5 cm long,(fig; 14, right); sepals 2 cm long, exceeding the floral bract, 5 mm wide, lanceolate, long acuminate, glabrous, thin membranous, red to green, free, nerved, towards the tip with a thickened mid rib and carinate; petals 3–4 cm long, 4 mm wide, dark-black-blue, acuminate, spreading a little, at the base with 2, ± 4 mm long, white, entire edged ligulae. stamens enclosed in flower, filaments 1,8 cm long, straight. pistil: style 2,4 cm long, stigma green or azure which exceeds the flower; ovary 4 mm long.Edited from : Rauh 1983c. (protologue) Bromelienstudien (Mitteilung 14). I. Neue und wenig bekannte Arten aus Peru und anderen Ländern .