Plant flowering ca. 1.20 m long, with an erect, 70-100 cm tall, pale-green rosette. Leaves many, thin-coriaceous, 60-110 cm long, often much exceeded by the scape; sheaths distinct, tapering into the blade, ovate (-oblong), 17-27 x 8-11 cm, with broad and pale membranaceous margins, densely or subdensely pale-brown-lepidote, pale-brown at both sides when dry and darker toward margins and base outside, to castaneous near the base; blades suberect, very narrowly triangular-ovate, 40-80 x 4.5-7 cm, triangular-acute or slightly cuspidate, often involute at the apex when dry, soon sparsely appressed-lepidote at the underside and glabrescent above. Inflorescence laxly and polystichously bipinnate of 9-13 spikes; scape erect, 7-14 mm in diam. at the base, 50-95 cm long, glabrous; scape bracts erect, coriaceous, the lower ones foliaceous and densely imbricate, the upper ones more ovate-lanceolate, narrowly triangular-acute or caudate, exceeding the internodes with the narrow apex and often exposing the scape in part, sparsely appressed-lepidote to glabrous at the base; axis exposed, 5-10 mm in diam., slightly flexuous, subterete, glabrous; primary bracts as the upper scape bracts, but more broadly ovate and acuminate, rigid-coriaceous, loosely sheathing the peduncle of the spikes, lustrous pale-green and often purple-striate; peduncle from almost none to ca. 4.5(8) cm long, naked or bearing a prophyl-like bract near the spike; spikes spreading, (narrowly) ellipsoid, 3.5-6(-8.2) cm long, ca. 2 cm in diam. (fruiting much broader), very densely and polystichously 10-20-flowered, with 1-2 sterile bracts at the base and apex; rachis hidden, straight, angled when dry, sparsely appressed-lepidote; floral bracts erect, densely imbricate, coriaceous, with even surface, elliptic, 1.8-2.4 cm long, about 10 times as long as the internodes, just exceeding the sepals, membranaceous at the margins, broadly obtuse, incurved and finely carinate at the extreme apex, sparsely and minutely lepidote, lustrous-green often with red margins or tinged with red. Flowers contiguous, subsessile; receptacle obconic, ca. 2.5 mm long; sepals coriaceous, with even surface, elliptic or oblong, 1.4-1.7 cm long, coriaceous at the margins, acute, anterior one free or nearly so, posterior ones connate for ca. 4 mm and bluntly carinate from the base to the apex, sparsely brown-lepidote at both sides; petals thin, erect, ca. 2 cm long, free lobes oblong, ca. 8 mm long, obtuse, greenish-cream; stamens just included, slightly exceeded by the pistil, filaments thin, adnate to the petal tube for more than 1 cm, dilated, anthers basifixed, sagittate, ca. 4 mm long, with free basal lobes of ca. 1.5 mm long, apiculate; ovary triangular-ovoid, ca. 4 mm long, contracted into the slender style, stigmas bristle-like Capsules cylindric, 2.6-2.9 cm long and ca. 5 mm in diam., attenuate, abruptly short beaked; coma red-brown.
Home