Vriesea bifida Leme & L.Kollmann  

plant rupicolous, flowering ca 65 cm tall. leaves ca 17 in number, rosulate, coriaceous, forming a funnelform rosette; sheath obovate, 10.5–12 × 7–7.5 cm, densely and minutely brown lepidote on both sides, castaneous, nerved when dry; blade narrowly triangular, acuminate-caudate, canaliculate toward the base and nearly flat toward the apex, 15–16 cm long, 4–4.3 cm wide at the base, completely covered on both sides with a dense layer of cinereous trichomes obscuring the color of the blades, margins ca 1 mm thick. inflorescence: peduncle suberect, ca 36 cm long, 0.5–0.7 cm in diameter, green to dark purplish, glabrous, not sulcate at anthesis; peduncle bracts the basal ones subfoliaceous, the upper ones ovate, acute, 3–3.5 × 2.3 cm, erect, exceeding to equaling the internodes, abaxially densely and coarsely white lepidote toward the apex and soon drying, strongly nervate-sulcate at anthesis, castaneous toward the base, stramineous toward the apex; fertile part simple, suberect, linear in outline at anthesis, ca 25 × 2.5 cm, ca 9-flowered, apex acute before and at anthesis; axis smooth at anthesis, green to dark purple, glabrous, obtusely if at all angled, nearly straight, internodes 2–3 × 0.5–0.7 cm; floral bracts orbicular, obtuse, 25–30 × 25–30 mm, abaxially white lepidote at the apex to glabrous, adaxially inconspicuously brown lepidote, ecarinate, not imbricate and secund with the flowers before and at anthesis, coriaceous, lustrous toward the base, stramineous and strongly and coarsely corrugate-sulcate at anthesis, base weekly truncate, about reaching 3/5 of the sepal length. flowers 4–4.5 cm long, nocturnal, with a garlic odor, distichous, laxly disposed and distinctly secund at anthesis; pedicel ca 8 mm long, ca 8 mm in diameter at distal end, stout, green, glabrous; sepals elliptic, obtuse-emarginate, 21 × 13–14 mm, green except for the wine colored apex, abaxially glabrous, adaxially inconspicuously and minutely lepidote, ecarinate, thick coriaceous near the base, apical margins membranaceous; petals obovate, apex broadly rounded and emarginate, recurved near the apex at anthesis, 34–36 × 20 mm, greenish, thicker toward the base, bearing 2 appendages at the base; appendages 9 × 2.5–3 mm, basally adnate to the petals for 3–4 mm, apex bifid-caudate; corolla ca 30 mm in diameter. stamens: filament free, 22–23 × 1–1.5 mm; anther ca 8 mm long, dorsifixed near the base, base bilobed, apex obtuse, three of them disposed on each lateral side of the corolla at anthesis. pistil: stigma tubo-laciniate, long digitate-laciniate at the margins, ca 2 mm in diameter, greenish-white; ovules shortly caudate. fruits unknown.

Edited from : Leme et al. 2014. (protologue) Miscellaneous New Species of Brazilian Bromeliaceae– III .