Rosette, typically unbranched herbs with somewhat succulent, strap-shaped leaves. In the wild, plants grow as epiphytes; however, terrestrial plants are found on or around tree falls suggesting that these ground-dwelling plants had been growing epiphytically. One species, Cochliostema odoratissimum, is a tank-epiphyte, resembling certain bromeliads in this respect. This species also attains the greatest size for the genus, with its leaves reaching to 1 m in length, and plants sometimes reaching 2 m in height.
Flowers are borne in large thyrses and are generally the largest (ca. 2.5 cm diam.), among the most fragrant, and arguably the most complex in the spiderwort family. They consist of 3 sepals, 3 blue to blue-violet and fringed petals, 3 stamens fused by their filaments in the upper half of the flower, and 3 carpels fused into a single trilocular pistil. The fused staminal structure has 3 spirally coiled anthers enveloped and concealed by petaloid extensions of the filaments of the two lateral stamens contributing to the 3-staminate structure. These structures, termed "cuculli", are narrowed into two distal hose-like extensions.
