Epiphyte, to 44 cm high, often with several plants in dense clusters. Leaves ligulate, acute to acuminate,15-41 cm long, 2-3 cm wide except at the broadly ovate base, glabrous at least in age. Scapes about as long as leaves; scape bracts imbricate, ovate, acuminate, the lower ones green and leaflike, the upper ones increasingly striped with purple, ultimately merging imperceptibly with floral bracts; inflorescences simple, oblong, the lower floral bracts to 4 cm long, those intermediate shorter and becoming tinged with dark violet, the uppermost bright red to orange-red, slightly exserted, all floral bracts soon fading and withering; flowers spirally arranged in upper half of scape; sepals lanceolate, ca 1.5 cm long, brown, indurate; petals white, ca 3 cm long, connate to near apex, rounded and concave at apex, sharply constricted at apex of sepals; stamens 6, included (held well below apex of tube); filaments flattened, adnate to petals, broader than anthers; anthers narrowly tapered to both ends, ca 5 mm long; ovary superior; style shorter than anthers, 3-branched, the branches ca 6 mm long. Capsules to 3.5 cm long, narrowly pointed at apex; valves rough and brown outside, shiny and black within; seeds 1.5-2 cm long, the seminiferous area ca 3.5 mm long, dark reddish-brown, the coma fused midway and reflexed back to seed, the refolded part not fused to the seminiferous area. Croat 6715,15058. Infrequently encountered in the forest, possibly more common at higher levels of the forest. Flowers in the late dry and early rainy seasons, mostly June and July. The fruits mature during the following dry season, mostly from December to March.