plant stemless, flowering to 30 cm high. leaves numerous, forming an open funnel-rosette ± 60 cm diam; sheath elliptic, 13–15 cm long, to 7 cm wide, green, brownish toward the base, indistinct; blade ligulate, rounded at the top and short tipped, to 30 cm long, 4–5 cm wide, with fine, irregular cross lines. inflorescence: peduncle short, rarely to 15 cm long, usually sunk into the rosette axis; glabrous, white; peduncle bracts subfoliate, fully enclosing the peduncle, erect, the upper ones white to pale reddish, green tipped; fertile part erect, usually exceeding the rosette leaves, simple, short-ellipsoid, to 10 cm long and to 5 cm thick, many flowered; floral bracts polystichous, 4–5 cm long, 2 cm wide, the bottom ones short green tipped, the upper ones blunt, the upper third bent over, sunken boat shaped, light cinnabar red to carmine red, towards the base white and red streaked. flowers yellow, covered completely by the floral bracts sepals free, 1,5 cm long, to 9 mm wide, thick membranous, light brown, red towards the blunt tip, ecarinate, glabrous; petals narrow lanceolate, 3,3 cm long, 5 mm wide, joined up to the middle and cucculate at the top. stamens & stigma enclosed.Edited from : Rauh 1979b. (protologue) Bromelienstudien (Mitteilung 9). I. Neue und wenig bekannte Arten aus Peru und anderen Ländern .