leaves less than 10, rosulate, 4 dm long; sheath (inner) conspicuous, ovate, finely and closely lepidote; blade linear, attenuate to a slender pungent brown spine (outer) or rounded mucronate (inner), 46 mm wide, densely serrulate with brown antrorse spines 1 mm long, pale green, subglabrous. inflorescence: peduncle erect, very slender, sparsely lepidote; peduncle bracts erect, lanceolate, acute, entire; fertile part simple, very laxly spicate, 12 cm long, 9 cm in diameter, few-flowered; rachis straight, prominently verruculose; floral bracts subsetiform, the lowest 10 mm long, reflexed-spreading, the upper greatly reduced. flowers spreading, sessile, to 50 mm long; sepals free, strongly asymmetric, 6 mm long with a 3 mm terminal spine, glabrous, rose turning to blue; petals ligulate, subacute, 40 mm long, fugacious, erect and forming a slenderly conical tube, recurved spreading and dark violet-punctulate toward apex, appendaged at base. stamens slightly shorter than the petals, the second series subfree; anther 5 mm long. pistil: ovary globose, 7 mm long, rose turning to blue; epigynous tube short, funnelform; berry globose, trisulcate. fruits: seeds many, cuneiform, dark, 2 mm long.Edited from : Smith & Downs 1979. Bromelioideae (Bromeliaceae) in Flora Neotropica.