leaves few in a rosette, lanceolate, acute, 1½ - 2 ft; long, above an inch broad at the middle, thinly lepidote; marginal teeth minute. inflorescence: peduncle 1½ ft; long; upper bract-leaves spreading, bright red; fertile part a moderately dense spike ½ ft; long; floral bracts minute. pistil: ovary oblong, thinly white-lepidote, finely sulcate, ¼ in; long. flowers: sepals oblong, obtuse, twice as long as the ovary; petals oblanceolate-unguiculate, 1½ in; long, greenish, rolling up spirally; genitalia longer than the petals.Edited from : Baker 1889. (protologue) Handbook of the Bromeliaceae .