Plants solitary or in small groups, usually with a short stem, sometimes in old specimens with a simple or branched procumbent stem up to 1 met. long, covered with the dried remains of old leaves. Leaves about 30, densely rosulate, lanceolate-deltoid, arcuate erect, slightly recurved near apex, usually about 30 cm long, 6 cm broad (sometimes reaching 50 cm long, 9 cm broad in very robust growth forms); upper surface flat low down, canaliculate upwards, very glaucous, obscurely lineate to sulcate, without spots; lower surface convex, similar to the upper but sometimes (especially in young plants) marked with few or many irregularly scattered single or double 'H' shaped whitish spots; margins sinuate, with a slight cartilaginous edge armed with reddish-brown to brownish deltoid pungent spreading teeth about 3-4 mm long, 8-10 mm distant, the teeth sometimes bifid. Inflorescence a many-branched corymbose panicle about 1 met. high, frequently 2-3 from a rosette, with all the racemes more or less at the same level. Peduncle branched at the middle or higher, with 4-8 arcuate-erect branches, the lowest often with 1-2 branch-lets, not sterile bracteate below the first branch, but branches below the racemes clothed with several sterile bracts. Racemes densely capitate, corymbose, but terminating in a dense conical tuft of imbricate bracts, about 6-8 cm long, 8-10 cm broad, unicoloured, the flowers (in different localities) ranging in colour from yellow, orange, tangerine, flame-scarlet to dull deep red, flame-scarlet being the most frequent. Bracts narrowly lanceolate-deltoid, very long-pointed, thin scarious white, 3-7-nerved, the lowest one-half to two-thirds the length of the pedicel. Pedicels 30-50 mm long (about 40 mm the average), arcuate-erect. Perianth 25-35 mm long (about 28-30 mm the average), campanulate-cylindric, somewhat trigonous and usually slightly inflated at the middle, narrowing to the throat with the mouth upturned, usually shortly stipitate; outer segments free for one-half to two-thirds their length (tube one-third to one-half the length of the perianth), with 3 greenish nerves, the 2 upper segments closely grouped, with their sub-acute apices falcately connivent and upturned; inner segments themselves free, but dorsally adnate to the outer for one-third their length, with broad white border and more obtuse revolute apices, with a keel the colour of the perianth turning greenish at apex, the two lower segment apices falcately connivent and upturned. Filaments flattened, the 3 inner narrower and lengthening in advance of the 3 outer, with their anthers exserted 2-4 mm Stigma exserted 5 mm and remaining exserted after the filaments dry and contract. Ovary 8 mm long, 3 mm diam., finely 6-grooved, green, slightly tapering into the style.
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Leaves in a dense rosette, erect and curving inwards, 30–40 cm long, 6–9 cm wide toward the base, ovate-lanceolate, greyish-green or often bronzed, obscurely lineate and usually without spots on the upper surface, with few to many whitish spots scattered or arranged in transverse bands on the lower surface; margins cartilaginous with pungent deltoid red-brown teeth 3–4 mm long, 8–12 mm apart.
Inflorescences 1–3, erect to 1 m high; peduncle up to 12-branched, the lower branches rebranched; branches widely spreading, subtended by ovate-lanceolate scarious bracts to 2 cm long, with several widely spaced bracts below each raceme.
Perianth scarlet, 25–33 mm long, 8–9 mm in diameter across the ovary, narrowing slightly toward the mouth, cylindric-trigonous; outer segments free to halfway, tips slightly spreading.
Racemes 6–8 × 8–10 cm, corymbose-capitate, very densely flowered; bracts 20–25 × 3–4 mm, lanceolate-acuminate, scarious; pedicels 30–50 mm long.
Perennial herb, solitary, or suckering to form small groups of plants, acaulescent or older plants with a very short stem.
Seeds c. 7 × 3.5 mm, black with broad white wings.
Capsule c. 24 × 9 mm, ovoid, yellowish-grey.
Stamens and stigma exserted 2–5 mm.
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