Plant 20-55 cm. high. Leaves many in a dense fasciculate rosette, often ex-ceeding the inflorescence, densely appressed-lepidote; sheaths narrowly subtri-angular, conspicuous, castaneous or ferruginous; blades linear-subulate to filiform, green. Scape erect or ascending, usually slender. Scape-bracts densely imbricate, the lower foliaceous, the upper subelliptic, filiform-laminate, chartaceous, often bright red. Inflorescence densely digitate, subellipsoid or broadly pyramidal, to 17 cm. long. Primary-bracts like the upper scape-bracts but the higher ones not laminate, at least their sheaths much shorter than the axillary branches. Branches arching-recurved, linear, 3-9 cm. long, complanate. Floral bracts barely imbricate, lance-ovate, acute, 17-22 mm. long, exceeding the sepals, carinate and often in-curved, subcoriaceous, usually nerved, pale-appressed-lepidote to glabrous, green or red. Flowers subsessile. Sepals lanceolate, glabrous or sparsely lepidote, the posterior ones connate, 6-8 mm. long. Petals tubular-erect, 25-30 mm. long, purple. Stamens exserted. Capsule cylindric, 25-30 mm. long.
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