Plants flowering 0.4--1.3 m. Leaves erect, yellow-green, to 45 cm, covered with conspicuous, white, chalky powder, especially toward base; sheath pale, elliptic; blade triangular, apex acute. Inflorescences: scapes erect; bracts subfoliaceous, laxly imbricate; inflorescences 2-pinnate (rarely simple), with 2--8 lateral branches; spikes 15--50-flowered, erect, stipitate; floral bracts yellow-green, broadly ovate, 6--8 mm. Flowers diurnal; sepals yellow-green, obovate, 1--1.2 cm, leathery, apex obtuse, surfaces glabrous; petals erect to very slightly spreading, white, elliptic, 1--1.2 cm; style included, stigma erect, simple. Fruits ellipsoid, 1.2--1.4 cm. Flowering fall--winter. Epiphytic on a variety of hosts, usually in strong light; 0--30 m; Fla.; Mexico; West Indies; Central America; South America.