plant propagating by elongate basal stolons, very rarely by axillary shoots, up to 2 m high. leaves densely rosulate, generally arching decurved, 2–3 m long, blades 2–7 cm wide, coriaceous, lustrous above, densely lepidote beneath, laxly serrate with curved retrorse and antrorse spines 3–10 mm long. inflorescence: peduncle erect, 20-–50 cm high, 15–25 mm wide, furfuraceous, peduncle bracts foliaceous, reduced, red or green; fertile part simple, strobilate, globose to ovoid, 8–20 cm long and 6–9 cm wide, 100–200-flowered; floral bracts densely imbricate, wide at base, lanceolate, acuminate, 2–5 cm long, erect, spiny, red, reddish brown or green, cinereous-lepidote, persistent, flowers opening in upward succession, sepals erect, asymmetric, ovate to lanceolate, narrowed at base, apiculate, 10–15 mm long, thick with membranous margins; green to red orange, sparsely lepidote. flowers: petals tubular-erect, 3–5 cm long, the claw oblong, white, the blade lanceolate, purplish. stamens included, adnate to the petals, shorter than the petals; syncarp up to about 20 cm long and 10 cm in diameter, not growing appreciably after anthesis, succulent, without leafy crown.Edited from : Bartholomew et al. 2003. The pineapple: botany, production and uses .