Plant flowering to 1 m high. Leaves narrowly triangular 10-25 cm long, 0.8-1.2 cm wide with large sheaths, pungent, evenly dark green, scaled beneath, marginal spines 1-3 mm long. Scape stout with small bracts. Inflorescence simple, lax, 12-20 cm long, sparsely woolly when young. Flowers divergent to spreading with very short flower stalks; petals dark orange, blades spreading; stamens included.
Brazil and Argentina
D. encholirioides (Gaudich.) Mez from south-eastern Brazil is a sprawling plant to 2 m tall. Leaves narrowly triangular, 30-100 cm long, 4 cm wide, hairless above, margins with spines 3-5 mm long. Scape stout, brown felted with narrow triangular bracts. Inflorescence many-flowered, simple to paniculate with many long lateral branches. Flowers spreading; flower stalks 1-2 mm long; petals red or yellow, 12 mm long; stamens included.
D. leptostachya Baker from western and southern Brazil is a plant flowering to 1.5 m tall but very variable in size. Leaves narrowly triangular, arching, 40-100 cm long, 1-3 cm wide; sheaths forming a thick bulb 4 cm wide; blades white scaled on both sides or soon hairless above, marginal spines 3-4.5 mm long. Scape very slender with small bracts. Inflorescence simple or few-branched, 12-16 cm long. Flowers spreading, 13-23 mm long with very short flower stalk; petals erect, red-orange, with broad blade; stamens protruding.
D. platyphylla L.B. Sm. from eastern Brazil grows to 80 cm high. Leaves narrowly triangular, 23 cm long, 5 cm wide, succulent, hairless above, scaled beneath, margins with 3 mm long spines. Scape slender with small bracts. Inflorescence simple, lax, many-flowered, 28 cm long. Flowers mostly erect; flower stalks stout, 1-2 mm long; petals 11 mm long, elliptic, yellow; stamens included.
D. tuberosa (Vell.) Beer from south-eastern Brazil grows to 1 m when flowering. Leaves many, narrowly triangular, 15-20 cm long, 1 cm wide; sheaths broadly ovate, forming a bulb; blades pointed, pungent, usually involute, hairless above, scaled beneath, margins spined. Scape slender with narrow-triangular bracts. Inflorescence simple, lax. Flowers spreading to reflexed, flower stalks 2-3 mm long; petals reddish or orange, 9-14 mm long; stamens included.
Source: (2005). Bromeliaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.