plant acaulescent, 15–20(–30) cm tall, with a small crateriform or cyathiform rosette of about 20 cinereous leaves. leaves thin-coriaceous, 11–32 cm long, mostly shorter than the inflorescence; sheath distinct, abruptly contracted into the blade, broadly ovate, strongly inflated¬convex, 3–6.3 x 3.3–5.5 cm, chartaceous at the margins, very densely ferrugineous-lepidote, except for the extreme base, dull- to very dark¬brown; blade strongly arching or suberect, very narrowly triangular, sometimes involute-subulate when dry, 7–25 x 0.8–2 cm, long ¬attenuately acute (sub filiform), very densely subappressed-lepidote, often with less extended scales at the upper side, cinereous-green; in¬florescence pendent, simple or subdigitate of 2–4 racemes, (10-)23–40 cm long. inflorescence: peduncle decurved, 5–17 cm long, ca 2–3 mm in diam., sparsely floccose, concealed by the leaves and foliaceous bracts; peduncle bracts erect, imbricate, subchartaceous, the lower ones often long laminate, the upper ones more oblong, apiculate or acutish, exceeding the internodes, densely lepidote; axis hidden, very short; primary bracts as the upper peduncle bracts, thin-coriaceous; peduncle* mostly very short and only prophyllate, except for the elongated and densely bracteate peduncle of the apical raceme; racemes mostly straight, linear or rarely lanceolate, complanate, (5-)13–23 x 1.5–1.8 cm, acutish, densely and distichously 9–20-flowered, often with a few reduced sterile bracts at the base and apex; rachis hidden at anthesis, slightly flexuous, angled, sparsely floccose or subglabrous; floral bracts erect, densely imbricate, coriaceous, with even or faintly veined surface when dry, ovate, 2.4–3.3 cm long, 2–3 times as long as the internodes, much exceeding the sepals, with submembranaceous margins, blunt sub-cucullate at the apex, nearly straight except at the base, ecarinate, appressed-lepidote or the upper ones subglabrous except for the floccose apex, deep pink or reddish. flowers contiguous with the rachis, on 2–3 mm long pedicels; recep¬tacle short, hollow, angled; sepals coriaceous, thickened and stiff at the base, with even surface, 1.4–1.8 cm long, with broad veinless margins, broadly acute or obtuse, evenly almost free, ecarinate and straight, glabrous at both sides; petals linear-lingu1ate, 2.7–3.6 cm long, the blade slightly divergent, yellowish or green, with or without highly ad¬nate ligules at the base; ligules linear, ca 8 mm long, free lobes minute, often bluntly bidentate. stamens just included, unequal, the longest ones slightly shorter than the pistil, filaments flat, free, becoming dilate-¬subterete and green toward the apex, anthers dorsifixed (at 1/2), sagit¬tate, 2–3.5 mm long, apiculate. pistil: ovary ovoid, ca 6 mm long, abruptly contracted into the slender style, stigmas linear, ca 2 mm long. fruits cylindric, ca 3.5 cm long, abruptly rounded and short-beaked.Edited from : Gouda 1987. Bromeliaceae (subfamily Tillandsioideae) in Görts-van Rijn, A.R.A. (ed.) Flora of the Guiana\'s Series A: Phanerogams.