plant flowering up to 50 cm high. leaves about 15, rosulate, ligulate, forming a tubular utriculum; sheath interior wide elliptic, 12–20 cm wide, a little larger than or equalling the blade, inside dark purple and white lepidote, outside green and inconspicuously lepidote; blade sublinear, 8–15 cm long, 5–6 cm wide, both sides inconspicuously lepidote, tip rounded, recurved and with a long subpungent mucron, edges laxly dark purple spined, up to 4 mm long; sheath* exterior ovate, 8 cm long, 6 cm wide, smaller than the blade; blade* narrow triangular, 20 cm long, 2 cm maximum width, gradually terminating to an acuminate tip, edges with spines up to 7 mm long, 5 mm apart. inflorescence: peduncle erect l0 mm diam; (when dry 5mm), 38 cm long, dark purple and dense white lepidote, internodes 3–4 cm long; peduncle bracts lower ones totally enclosing the peduncle, pink, white lepidote, but inside glabrous, almost rectangular, tip rounded with a curved mucron, edges entire, 4 cm long, 3 cm wide, a little shorter or a little longer than the internodes, those near the inflorescence strongly clustered, dark purple, spreading, not at all enclosing the peduncle, lanciform, edges serrate 6 cm long, 2 cm maximum width; fertile part erect, simple, strobiliform, ellipsoid, 7 cm long, 4 cm diam; (when dry 5 cm long, 3 cm diam.) , except for the corolla totally dark purple and dense white lepidote; floral bracts suborbicular, concave, tip blunt apiculate, on the back 3 keeled and gibbose, 8 mm diam., equalling the ovary but not totally enclosing it. flowers 20 mm long, sessile; sepals assymetric, ovate, 8 mm long, connate for 4mm, tip blunt, not at all apiculate nor mucronate; petals dark blue later blackish, linear spathulate, 15 mm long, tip rounded, emarginate and and very small denticulate, above the base 2 fimbriate ligules. stamens: anther 5 mm long, linear, base blunt sagittate, tip apiculate. pistil: ovary 4 mm long; epigynous tube 2 mm long; placenta joined to the top of the locules; ovules few, long caudate.Translated by Butcher from: Bradea. (protologue) .