plant saxicolous, stemless, propagating by short basal shoots. leaves ca 55 in number, spreading-arcuate, coriaceous and slightly succulent toward base, forming a very dense round rosette; sheath inconspicuous but broader than the blades, very densely spinulose, inconspicuously and subdensely punctulate-lepidote adaxially, whitish toward base; blade narrowly sublinear-triangular, long acuminate-caudate, 25–30 cm long, 1.3–1.5 cm wide at base, slightly canaliculate, ca 2 mm thick near the base, green, lustrous, abaxially glabrous and nerved, adaxially sparsely and inconspicuously punctulate white-lepidote, margins very densely spinulose, spines subtriangular-uncinate, antrorse, whitish, to 0.5 mm long, 1–1.5 mm apart, at anthesis the inner blades becoming red toward the apex and abruptly greenish-yellow near the base. inflorescence: peduncle absent; fertile part once-branched in its outer portion, simple in its inner portion, subumbellate, sessile, densely many-flowered, 5–6 cm in diameter; primary bracts with margins very densely spinulose, spines less than 0.5 mm, whitish, the basal ones prevailing retrorse, the upper ones antrorse, the outer primary bracts foliaceous and resembling the inner leaves, but shorter and narrower toward apex, red toward apex and abruptly greenish-yellow near the base, forming at anthesis an inner 9–10 cm in diameter, greenish-yellow colored ring, as well as an outer red colored ring around the inflorescence, the inner primary bracts narrowly triangular, ca 5 cm long, ca 2 mm wide at base, distinctly exceed ing the fascicles, suberect, greenish-yellow, inconspicuously and sparsely glandulose including the margins; fascicles ca 14 in number, flabellate, complanate, shortly pedunculate, ca 22 x 15 mm (excluding the petals), 2 or 3 flowered;, floral bracts triangular, light green, densely glandulose mainly toward apex including the margins, those of the fascicles with narrowly acuminate-spinose apex, distinctly carinate, ca 18 x 13 mm, slightly shorter than the sepals, margins densely spinulose, those of the inner simple part of the inflorescence with an acuminate and usually hooklike incurved apex, ecarinate, 22–35 x 10 mm, coriaceous toward apex, densely spinulose near the base and sparsely spinulose toward apex, erect (inner) to suberect (outer), from slightly exceeding the sepals (inner) to distinctly exceeding the flowers (outer). flowers 24–26 mm long (including the petals), sessile, very densely arranged, slightly fragrant at anthesis; sepals subsymmetrical, narrowly subovate-triangular, acuminate, 13–15 x 4 mm, free, entire, the adaxial ones alate-carinate, the abaxial ones carinate or nearly so; petals narrowly subspatulate, apex subacute to rounded-obtuse, 17–18 x 4 mm, free, at anthesis erect and greenish except for the subspreading to suberect white distal portion, bearing 2 narrowly cupulate, densely crenulate appendages ca 6 mm above the base, as well as 2 conspicuous longitudinal callosities which slightly exceed the filaments. stamens: filament terete, greenish toward apex, the antepetalous 8–9 mm long, adnate to the petals for ca 6 mm, the antesepalous ones 11–13 mm long, free; anther 2.5–3 mm long, base and apex obtuse, fixed at 1/3 of its length above the base, laterally compressed. pistil: stigma simple-erect, ca 1 mm long, blades erect, margins nearly entire; ovary ca 6 mm long, ca 5 mm in diameter at apex, trigonous, whitish, glabrous; epigynous tube crateriform, ca 1.5 mm long; placentation apical; ovules obtuse. fruits much enlarged from the ovary, greenish;.Edited from : Leme 2004b. (protologue) Studies on Orthophytum - Part II: Two New Scapeless Species .