leaves to 35 cm long, tinged with red-purple especially beneath; blade ligulate, broadly acute and then attenuate in a slender apex, 33 mm wide, subdensely serrulate with spines 1 mm long. inflorescence: peduncle to 10 cm high; fertile part obviously raised above the rosette, rather many-flowered; primary bracts short and inconspicuous, dark purple, serrulate, involute toward apex; floral bracts elliptic, acute, equaling or slightly ex¬ceeding the ovary, entire, dark purple. flowers to 40 mm long; sepals sublanceolate, filiform-attenuate, 22 mm long, connate for 5 mm. pistil: ovary 10 mm long.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1979. Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae) in Flora Neotropica.