Very rare, very showy and very unusual, Cyrtosperma johnstonii N.E.Br. is a gigantic suckering herb to ca. 3 m tall, usually with one crown strongly dominant but eventually forming a clump of large crowns. Leaves several together, hastate to sagittate; petioles to 2.5 m long, irregularly and obliquely mottled white, green brown and pink, heavily armed with the spines coalescing into oblique combs; costae bright pink in young specimens, later with the laminas blotched reddish brown beneath and the costae green to brown; posterior lobes somewhat exceeding the anterior, to c. 70 cm long; peduncle similar to but shorter than the petioles. 
The genus name, Cyrtosperma comes from greek 'Curved seed'; probably referring to the shape of the seed.