Caulescent, rhizomatous herb, 1.5-2 (3) m tall, of musaceous habit; stem slender, to ca 5 cm diam. Petioles to ca 50 cm long, woolly-pubescent around sheath; blades oblong to oblong-ovate, acuminate, obtuse to rounded at base, 30-100 cm long, 7-30 cm wide; major veins 3-7 mm apart. Inflorescence erect, or nodding in fruit, densely villous-woolly throughout; peduncle 15-30 cm long; rachis moderately flexuous; bracts usually 6-8, the lowermost often leafy, the others spirally arranged, 6-17 cm long, long-acuminate, usually curling on ends, broadest near base, densely villous, 2-6 cm high, orange to yellowish-brown, the free margin red and undulate; internodes of lower bracts 2-3 cm long; flowers 5-6 cm long; perianth yellow, 4-5.2 cm long. Fruits broadly triangular, ca 1 cm long, ca 6 per bract, greenish to yellow, becoming purple. Croat 12194. Occasional, in moist shady areas of the older forest. Flowers primarily from June to September, sometimes as early as April. The fruits mature mostly from September to December. Distinguished by the erect inflorescence with yellowish, densely pubescent bracts that are often curled on the ends. Known only from Panama from tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Colon, Panama, and Darien, from premontane moist forest in Coclé and Panama, and from tropical wet forest in Colon and Coclé (La Mesa). See Fig. 144.