MainDescriptionReferences

Cryptanthus praetextus E.Morren ex Baker
plant short-caulescent, propagating by erect offshoots. leaves all alike, few, rosulate, 17 cm long, distinctly narrowed between sheath and blade; sheath suborbicular , thick, coriaceous; blade linear-lanceolate, acuminate, 22 mm wide, densely serrulate, undulate along the margins, glabrous above with a single broad pale median stripe, covered beneath with coarse white appressed scales. inflorescence few-flowered. flowers less than 30 mm long; sepals 11 mm long, about half-connate, the free lobes broadly ovate, acute.

Edited from : Smith & Downs 1979. Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae) in Flora Neotropica.