plant stemless, up to 88 cm high when flowering, producing the shoot next to the peduncle at anthesis. leaves 25- 65 cm long, 2.9- 3.8 cm wide, glabrous; sheath narrow elliptic; blade ligulate, attenuate, dark green adaxially, occasionaly purple-red toward the base abaxially. inflorescence: peduncle ample, curved and hanging over with the leaves; peduncle bracts elliptic, apiculate, notably exceeding the internodes, reddish; fertile part subdensely once branched, up to 87 cm long, with 9 - 20 spikes; axis terete, slightly flexuous, glabrous; primary bracts ovate-elliptic, short acuminate, pungent, adpressed to the spike, chartaceous, reddish, often with dried apex, the lower about equaling the pikes, the upper to about reaching the middle of the spikes; spikes erect, 3–10 flowered, linear lanceolate to elliptic, 2.2 to 7.2 cm long, 0.5 to 1.7 cm wide, strongly complanate with almost flat sides, adpressed to the rachis; rachis glabruos, obtusely angled to alate excaved, internodes 3–4 mm long; floral bracts obovate-oblong, obtuse or broadly rounded, obtusely carinate to ecarinate, membranaceous, 1.3 to 1.7 cm long, 8 mm wide, exceeding or just exceeded by the sepals, densely imbricate and covering the rachis, distinctly veined, bi-colored, bright red with white apical part, abaxially glabrous and obscurely punctulate lepidote adaxially. flowers contiguous with the rachis, sessile, with an obconic, 3 x 4 mm, bluntly bicarinate receptacle; sepals sub-free or the adaxially ones 1–2 mm connate, ovate to obovate-oblong, 11–12(–16 ramirez!) mm long, 5.5 mm wide, rounded or broadly obtuse, even, obscurely carinate if et all., abaxially glabrous and obscurely punctulate lepidote adaxially, whitish; petals 3.5 mm connate and adnate to the antecepalous filaments, 17(–24 ramirez) x 4 mm, ligulate, rounded and slightly emarginate, white, bearing 2 ligules (nectary scales) at the petal base; ligules 6 x 1.5 mm, 4 mm adnate to the petals, fleshy, apical part free, acute or obtuse. stamens included, 13 mm long, equaling or exceeded by the pistil; filament the free part fleshy, complenate; anther 4 mm long, linear-saggitate, dorsifixed at 1/4 from base, attenuate from base to apex, obtuse, pale yellow, pollen pale yellow. pistil 13 mm long, ovary 4 x 2 mm, tapering from base to apex, slightly contracted into the style, white; style slender, white; stigma erect, conduplicated, papillose. fruits: seeds capsule angled, 1 cm long.Emended description : Gouda et al. 2006/2009. Encyclopaedia of bromeliads .