plant caulescent; stem 30 cm or higher, propagating by basal rhizomes. leaves heteromorphic, some not narrowed between sheath and blade and with narrowly tri-angular blades, others distinctly narrowed between sheath and blade but not actually petiolate, to 15 cm long; blade 45 mm wide, coriaceous, finely lepidote, green or tinged with red but not maculate. inflorescence rather few-flowered but evidently com¬pound; floral bracts to 17 mm long, elliptic, sharply carinate, exceeding the ovary. flowers to 32 mm long; sepals to 15 mm long, more than half connate, acuminate; petals broadly ligulate, greenish white.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1979. Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae) in Flora Neotropica.