leaves 10–12 in a utricular rosette, lorate, a foot long, ¾–1 in; broad at the middle, plain green on the face, white-lepidote on the back, with a few irregular transverse bands, deltoid-cuspidate at the tip, the mar¬ginal prickles minute. inflorescence: peduncle slender, much overtopping the the leaves; bract-leaves adpressed, imbricated, not brightly coloured; fertile part a dense rhomboid once-branched panicle 3 in; long, with short erecto-patent densely-flowered distichous branches; flower¬bracts round-cuspidate, red, ¼ in; long. flowers: calyx with ovary ½ in; long, both red; sepals oblong-lanceolate, cuspidate, petals lilac, shortly exserted.Edited from : Baker 1889. (protologue) Handbook of the Bromeliaceae .