Caulescent, rhizomatous herb, 1-3 m tall; stem to ca 5 cm diam. Leaves much like H. vaginalis but very dark green above, maroon below, 20-120 cm long and 9-25 cm wide. Inflorescence glabrous, erect; peduncle to 50 cm long; bracts 5-7, green, glabrous or long-tomentose, 2.5-8 cm long, 1.5 cm or less deep; rachis +/- straight; flowers reddish-pink, 4-5 cm long; all flowers parts extending above bracts; pedicel and lower half of ovary white, the upper rim becoming green in fruit. Fruits truncate, ca 1 cm long, green at apex, white at base, becoming blue at maturity; seeds +/- pyramidal, ca 6 mm long and wide, gray-brown, rough. Croat 16562. Cultivated in the Laboratory Clearing south of the Animal House near the edge of the forest. Introduced to the island from El Valle. Probably flowering all year, but especially in the dry and early rainy seasons.