plant acaulescent, propagating by slender rhizomes 10–20 cm long. leaves ca 7 per rosette, 5–8 cm long, somewhat recurved, in a flat open usually ovate rosette; sheath widely ovate, 12 mm long, 17 mm wide, very conspicuous, papyraceous when dry, glabrous adaxially, lepidote abaxially, subentire near the base, serrate toward the apex; blade lanceolate, acuminate, 8–12 cm long, 2.5–3 cm wide, recurved towards the apex, relatively thin and flexible but with a slightly succulent median zone near the base, distinctly narrowed at the base but not petiolate, completely covered by white scales beneath, light maroon adaxially the slightly wavy narrow transversal bands formed by whitish scales, margins strongly undulate and densely serrulate with brown spines about 0.5 mm in length, less than 0.5 mm apart. inflorescence compound, simple, nidular; primary bracts like reduced leaves, triangular, apically acute and long acuminate, apex lepidote, 2.5 cm long, 11 mm wide, cucullate, serrate, basely straight and upper half flattening and forming 90° with the vertical axis of the rosette; fascicles with the central ones with about 3–4 staminate flowers, 5 outer fascicles with 2 perfect flowers each, sessile; floral bracts largely ovate, subobtuse or acute and apiculate, membranaceous, 15 mm long, 9 mm wide, about half as long as the sepals, entire, glabrous. flowers sessile, about 35 mm long; sepals 35 mm long, connate by 8 mm, free lobes subsymmetric, subelliptic, acute and conspicuously apiculate, 5 mm long, 3 mm wide, green, carinate, entire, sparsely white-lepidote towards apex; petals oblong, acute and minutely apiculate, 30 mm long, 5 mm wide, connate by 10 mm, slightly exceeding the stamens but recurved at anthesis and exposing them, bearing two conspicuous longitudinal calli about 11 mm above the base. stamens 1.5–1.7 cm long; filament adnate to the petals for 10 mm; anther 3 mm long, fixed by 1/3 of their length about the sagittate base, apex apiculate. pistil: ovary trigonous, 5 mm long, white; placentation apical; epigynous tube lacking; ovules few, obtuse.Edited from : Ramirez 1996. Systematics, phylogeny and chromosome number evolution in Cryptanthus (Bromeliaceae) .