Plant over 8 din. high. Leaves 5-14 dm. long; sheaths very large, elliptic, pale-punctulate-lepidote; blades ligulate, acute, pungent, 45-75 mm. wide, rigid, pale green, serrate with spreading spines up to 1 cm. long. Scape erect, to 1 cm. thick, white-flocculose at first. Scape-bracts erect, imbricate, elliptic, acute or acuminate, entire, pale green or the upper ones red. Inflorescence amply paniculate, subthyrsoid, 25-60 cm. long. Axes angular, white-arachnoid. Primary bracts spreading or reflexed, narrowly lanceolate, acuminate, much shorter than the branches, bright red, sparsely lepidote or glabrous. Branches divergent to spreading, the lower ones usually divided and bearing 2-8 spikes, to 25 cm. long. Spikes linear, acute, 5-16 cm. long, 10-16 mm. wide, complanate, distichous-flowered. Floral bracts densely imbricate, broadly ovate to suborbicular, 14-17 mm. long, equaling or exceeding the sepals, mucronulate with free entire margins, sharply carinate toward apex, coriaceous, glabrous, finely nerved near margin. Flowers sessile, 17 mm. long. Sepals lanceolate, acute, alate, 7-8 mm. long, connate for 1 mm. Petals lingulate, acute, yellow. Stamens included. Ovary angled, glabrous, the epigynous tube short. Ovules few, borne at top of cell, caudate.
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