leaves 6–15 dm long; sheath broadly elliptic, 15 cm long, dark castaneous; densely buff-lepidote; blade linear, acuminate, 3–4 cm wide, densely pale-lepidote, laxly serrulate with spines 1–2 mm long. inflorescence: peduncle curved, 2 dm long, 7 mm in diameter; peduncle bracts densely imbricate, the lower subfoliaceous, the upper ovate, acuminate to a dark brown cusp; fertile part slenderly cylindric, 13–30 cm long, farinose; primary bracts broadly ovate, exceeding the spikes, thin, pink, laciniate-dentate, mucronate; spikes very laxly 2–5-flowered; rachis slender, nearly straight; floral bracts broadly ovate, acuminate, entire, to 12 mm long. flowers suberect; sepals free, mucronate, 17 mm long; petals 26 mm long, white, drying purple. pistil: ovary subglobose, epigynous tube short, funnelform; placentae apical; ovules short-caudate.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1979. Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae) in Flora Neotropica.