Rosettes flat-topped, 3.5-4.5 × 4-6 dm. Leaves ascending, 17-45 × 4-12 cm; blade lanceolate; margins straight, teeth 5-7 mm, 1-3 cm apart; apical spine dark brown, subulate or acicular, 2.5-3 cm. Scape (2-)3-4.5 m. Inflorescences: lateral branches (7-) 10-17, slightly ascending. Flowers 5.5-6.7 cm; perianth red to orange in bud, yellow to yellowish green at anthesis, tube 12-18 mm, limb lobes erect to ascending, 15-20 × 3-4 mm; filaments inserted (sometimes irregularly) above mid perianth tube, green, 3.5-4.5 cm; ovary neck 4-7 mm. Capsules oblong, 2.5-3.5 cm. 2n = 120.

Flowering mid spring--early summer. Gravelly to rocky places in grasslands and desert scrub; 1600--2100 m; N.Mex., Tex.