leaves many in a dense spreading rosette, 15–30 dm long, not constricted; sheath large, broadly triangular, entire or somewhat serrate toward the apex, densely lepidote with elongate coarse dark brown scales; blade linear, attenuate, pungent, 3–5 cm wide, very minutely appressed-lepidote beneath, densely serrate with stout brown teeth 5–8 mm long. inflorescence: peduncle very short or none; fertile part many-flowered, densely corymbose, surrounded by cinnabar-red inner leaves; primary bracts like the inner leaves but with shorter blades; floral bracts narrowly oblanceolate, attaining the middle of the sepals, entire or sparsely serrate, membranaceous, coarsely lepidote. flowers 6–9 cm long; pedicel very short and stout; sepals narrowly lanceolate, acute but not mucronate, 3 cm long, erect, free, coarsely brown-lepidote; petals narrowly lanceolate, to 4 cm long, connate for more than 2 cm, glabrous, fleshy, rose with white base and margins. pistil: ovary triangular-prismatic, densely brown-lepidote. fruits fusiform, 8 cm long, 2 cm in diameter.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1979. Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae) in Flora Neotropica.