Leaves up to 20 or more in a dense spreading rosette, 20-60 cm long, 4-5.5 cm wide, ligulate, lustrous; sheaths large, pale or purplish. Inflorescence sunk in the centre of the leaf rosette; primary bracts large, broadly ovate, broadly pointed to rounded, spined; floral bracts half as long as the sepals, whitish; sepals 22-30 mm long, united for 3-9 mm, hairless, white or reddish; petals united for most of their length, white, hooded.
South-eastern Brazil
Plants very variable in the colour of the leaves and primary bracts. The purple leaved form has been confused with the rarer N. purpureum which has red petals. Some plants, also called N. innocentii, are really Wittrockia amazonica.
N. rutilans Morren from south-eastern Brazil has leaves about 20 in a dense rosette, to 35 cm long; sheaths somewhat indistinct; blades ligulate, laxly and minutely spined, green, sometimes with dark green spotting, hairless. Inflorescence sunk in the centre of the rosette; primary bracts lanceolate-ovate, laxly serrate, 3 times as long as the flowers, bright red; floral bracts entire, equalling three quarters the length of the sepal, 28 mm long, 8 mm wide, scaled toward tip; sepals 18 mm long, united for only 2 mm, hairless; petals red, hooded. N. regelioides is a very similar plant with the primary bracts purple instead of red. The names may be synonymous.
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.
