plant terrestrial, saxicolous or rarely epiphytic, flowering 100–120 cm high, propagating by basal, stout, suberect stolons ca 20 cm long. leaves coriaceous, forming a broad funnelform rosette; sheath oblong-elliptic, 17 x 10 cm, densely brown-lepidote, dark castaneous toward the base; blade linear, not narrowed at base, 40–50 x 6–7 cm, subdensely to laxly spinulose, spines mostly retrorse, dark brown, ca 2 mm long, inconspicuously white-lepidote adaxially, densely white-lepidote abaxially, yellowish-green, apex acuminate to a stout dark rigid spine ca 1.5 cm long. inflorescence: peduncle suberect, 30–40 cm long, ca 0.7 cm in diameter, sparsely white-lanate becoming glabrous, green; peduncle bracts narrowly linear-lanceolate, apex acuminate, 8–10 x 1 cm, stramineous, sparsely white-lepidote, entire, erect, equaling or slightly exceeding the internodes, exposing most of the peduncle; fertile part laxly paniculate, once-branched, 40–50 cm long; primary bracts resembling the upper peduncle bracts but gradually smaller, distinctly shorter than the branches, spreading, entire; branches 11–14 in number, laxly arranged, cylindric, suberect, with 30 to 100 flowers, 2–2.5 cm in diameter; the basal ones 13–18 cm long, the upper ones 5–10 cm long, peduncle 1–2.5 cm long, naked or bearing two sterile bracts, densely flowered, the terminal 13–15 cm long, rachis straight, glabrous, light green, 2–3 mm in diameter; floral bracts 4–6 mm long, with a triangular base of 1–1.5 mm in width and ending in a 3–5 mm acicular yellowish apex, entire, about equaling the ovary, stramineous, finely nerved. flowers ca 14 mm long, sessile, dense and polystichously arranged, spreading, fragrant; sepals strongly asymmetrical, 5 mm long including the 2–3 mm apical suberect acicular spine, ca 3.5 mm wide, subfree, glabrous, pale yellowish-green; petals narrowly subspathulate, apex acuminate, 11 x 2.5 mm, subspreading at anthesis, free, naked but with 2 well developed longitudinal callosities, white. stamens: filament the epipetalous highly adnate to the petals, the antisepalous free; anther ca 2 mm long, base obtuse, apex conspicuously apiculate, fixed near 1/3 about its base. pistil: stigma conduplicate-spiral, cylindric, lobes inconspicuously crenulate, 1.5 mm long, green; ovary terete, ca 5 mm long, ca 2 mm in diameter, glabrous, light green; placentation apical; ovules obtuse; epigynous tube inconspicuous fruits blue when mature; paratype brazil; bahia jacobina, serra do tombador, road jacobina to morro do chapeu, ca 24 km from the jacobina city, 28 oct; 1995, a; amorim, a; carvalho, s; sant'ana, j; jardim and g; pitanga 1816 (cepec, ny).Edited from : Leme & Luther 1999. (protologue) Miscellaneous new species of Brazilian Bromeliaceae (II) .