; 0 from ramirez in thesis for msc 1991 neoregelia aculeatosepala rauh & barthlott, akad; 1 wiss., lit; 2 mainz, math.-naturwiss klasse, trop; 3 subtrop; 4 pflanzenwelt 16 53, fig; 5 29–31; 6 1976. plant propagating by brown, scaly, pendant 20–50 cm long stolons. leaves: sheath of the stolons polystichous, attenuate, acute 1.5–4 cm long, 4–6 mm wide, soon brown and dry, caducous; rosettes flowering up to 15 cm tall, 10–12 cm diameter, funnelform, 7–9 leaves. leaves dissimilar, the outer shorter than the inner, not very well spreadlng, appressed lepidote on both surfaces, mostly in the abaxial one; sheath* broadly elliptic, ca 6 cm long, to 5 cm wide, entire, somewhat inflated brown or violet above, densely lepidote throughout; blade recurved, ligulate, broadly rounded and apiculate, 5–6 cm long, 2–5 cm wide, thick, vinaceous or bright red at anthesis, serrate with brown, sometimes black spines 2 mm long towards the apex, shorter to the base, 3 mm apart; . inflorescence: peduncle ca 6 cm long; bracts imbricate, erect, serrate, the lower 5–10 mm long, the upper ampler, surrounding the inflorescence, with short, recurved, lepidote blades; fertile part simple, dense, 8–20-flowered, 3 cm wide, floral apex visible during anthesis; floral bracts subspatulate, acuminate, coarsely spinose serrate, ca 20 mm long, equaling or exceeded by the sepals, sparsely lepidote, the lower to 7 mm wide, the upper 4 mm wide. flowers: pedicel stout, to 4 mm long, sparsely lepidote; sepals 15–16 mm long, 4–5 mm wide, connate for 2–3 mm, subspatulate, acuminate, reddish, coarsely spinose-serrate, spreading at apex, laxly stellate-lepidote; petals free, narrowly ligulate, 20–23 mm long, white, subdensely stellate, only slightly spreading. pistil: ovary subglobose, obtusely trigonous, 3 mm long, green, sparsely brown-stellate; placentation apical. fruits to 5–27 mm long, purple or dark blue when mature; seeds ca 4–18, fuscous, 2 mm long, long caudate.Edited from : Ramirez 1991. Systematic Revision of Neoregelia subgenus Hylaeaicum (Bromeliaceae) .