Plant flowering to 1.3 m high. Leaves entire, persistent; sheaths brown; stalks to 20 cm long; blades 50-100 cm long, 6-8 cm wide. Scape erect. Inflorescence simple, cylindrical, 10-45 cm long; floral bracts 3.0-3.5 cm long, green or yellow often tinged red. Flowers with flower stalks 1 cm long; sepals green or yellow; petals 5-6 cm long, white or greenish-white. Ovary superior.
Honduras to Colombia and Surinam
P. imbricata (Brongn.) Regel from southern Mexico to Nicaragua grows to over 1 m high. Leaves 10-25, stalked; sheaths large, brown; stalks to 30 cm long with spines to 2.5 mm long; blades narrowly lanceolate 50 cm long, 4.5-5.0 cm wide, mainly entire. Scape short. Inflorescence simple, spicate, many-flowered, to 40 cm long, 2.5-3.5 cm wide; floral bracts 5-6 cm long; sepals 2-3 cm long, whitish-green; petals 6-8 cm long, white, not recurved at flowering. Ovary almost wholly superior.
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.