Information

Small tree 1–2(3) m high; stem erect, 5–12 cm in diameter, simple to 1 m high then sometimes sparsely branched above, or sometimes decumbent, with a few suckers from the base forming a small group of plants. Leaves in a dense rosette, erect-spreading with withered leaf remains persistent below the rosette; lamina 40–60 cm long, 8–10 cm wide at the base, lanceolate-attenuate, greyish-green, often with scattered spots on both surfaces of young leaves; margin pinkish, cartilaginous, with pungent orange-brown deltoid teeth 3–4 mm long and 7–14 mm apart. Inflorescence 1 or occasionally 2, oblique, to 1 m long; peduncle simple or 1-branched, with a few sterile bracts below the racemes. Raceme 25–45 × 5 cm, densely flowered, horizontal or almost so, with the flowers secund along the upper side of the rhachis; bracts 1–2 × 2–3 mm, deltoid, scarious, brown; pedicels 4–6 mm long. Perianth bright red or orange, 20–40 mm long, c. 7 mm in diameter across the ovary, widening to c. 10 mm at the middle and narrowing slightly toward the mouth, cylindrical-ellipsoid; outer segments free almost to the base. Stamens and stigma exserted c. 12 mm; stamens with purple filaments and orange anthers, stigma orange. Capsule and seeds not seen.