Known to gardeners for many years as B. saundersii, this has slightly arching, narrow 1 1/2 ft (45cm) leaves of brownish green, with copious cream-white spotting and banding when grown in a good light.
It forms an upright rosette, from the center of which the slightly drooping flower spike is produced in May, with bright red stem bracts and a large panicle of red and violet flowers. Offsets grow quite close to the parent as in B. nutans and, like them, should flower after one season of growth.
