Leuenbergeria bleo grows as a shrub or small tree and reaches a height of 2 to 8 metres with trunks up to 15 centimetres in diameter.

The leaves are arranged alternately on the branches and are distinctly stalked with petioles up to 3 centimetres long.

The bare, bright red, scarlet, salmon pink and orange-red-pink flowers reach diameters of 4 to 6 centimeters.

[3] The first description of the species, as Cactus bleo, was in 1828 by Karl Sigismund Kunth.

[4] Leuenbergeria bleo is found by rivers and streams in Panama and Colombia as well as in secondary forest, from sea level to altitudes of 1300 metres.