It produces short, rigid, triangular-sharp green leaves that are packed together in tight, towering spiral formations along stems reaching 20 to 60 cm tall. Under intense sun, the emerald leaves blush a beautiful reddish-brown.
The name corrugata (and the older synonym aspera, meaning rough) comes from its rough epidermis. The outer sides of the leaves are entirely blanketed in microscopic, bumpy tubercles of the exact same color as the leaf, which often align in neat longitudinal rows.
During the dry summer months (October to February), it pushes up an upright, slender stem bearing small, regular, star-shaped creamy-white to pale pink flowers.
