This species has a flowering inflorescens that looks like a spiny rosy-red artichoke, with sharp pointed bracts. It is rare and in the wild it grows in tropical rainforests along the border between Ecuador and Peru. The leaves are broad and drooping with long burgundy petioles; green in low light but lime green infused with coppery-red in bright light. Bromeliads in the tropical American genus Aechmea are called vase plants or urn plants. The bases of their curved leaves collect water and can be home to aquatic insects and microorganisms. Plants take several years to flower and will usually decline after the long-lasting blooms fade, but they can be restarted from “pups”: small side shoots. They like filtered light and loose organic soil mixed with small bark chips or sphagnum moss to increase porosity.