Plants acaulescent, freely suckering; rosettes solitary or cespitose, 3.5–7.5 × 4–8.5 dm, somewhat open to dense. Leaves ascending to erect, 7–65 × 4–20 cm; blade glaucous-gray to light green, not cross-zoned, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate or broadly ovate, rigid, adaxially nearly plane to concave toward apex, abaxially convex; margins straight or undulate, rarely unarmed, teeth single, well defined, 3–7(–8) mm, 1–3 cm apart; apical spine dark brown to gray, subulate or acicular, 1.5–4 cm. Scape (2–)3–6 m. Inflorescences broadly paniculate, somewhat open to dense, not bulbiferous; bracts persistent, triangular, 3–10 cm; lateral branches (7–)10–36, horizontal to slightly ascending, comprising distal 1/2 of inflorescence, longer than 10 cm. Flowers 27–48 per cluster, erect, 4.3–8.1 cm; perianth pink to red or red to orange in bud, yellow to yellowish green at anthesis, tube campanulate, 6–18 × 11–21 mm, limb lobes erect to ascending, unequal, 13–27 mm; stamens long-exserted; filaments inserted (sometimes irregularly) above mid perianth tube to just below rim, erect, yellow or green, 3.5–5.8 cm; anthers yellow, 12–34 mm; ovary (2–)3–4.5 (–4.8) cm, neck slightly constricted, 4–9 mm. Capsules short-pedicellate, ovoid or oblong to obovoid, 2.5–5 cm, apex beaked. Seeds 7–8 mm.

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora): sw United States, n Mexico.