plant terrestrial in a very humid soil along a stream, stemless, ca 10 cm long, 15–20 cm in diameter, propagating by short axillary offshoots around inflorescence base and forming dense populations. leaves ca 15 in number, suberect-arcuate to ascending toward apex, forming a subdense, round and slightly secund rosette; sheath suborbicular, ca 3 x 3.3 cm, densely and minutely spinulose at apex, greenish-white, glabrous toward base, densely and coarsely white-lepidote and strongly corrugate at apex; blade narrowly triangular, apex slenderly acuminate-caudate, 15–18 x 2–2.3 cm, not narrowed toward base, strongly coriaceous but without any thicker central zone, strongly canaliculate, green, densely and coarsely white-lepidote abaxially with trichomes obscuring leaf color, adaxially densely white-lepidote toward base and glabrous toward apex, margins straight, subdensely spinulose; spines 1–1.5 mm long, 3–8 mm apart, the basal ones subspreading to slightly retrorse, the upper ones slightly antrorse-uncinate. inflorescence simple, ca 6 cm long, ca 2.5 cm in diameter, sessile but elongate; floral bracts foliaceous, distinctly exceeding the flowers. flowers 35–40 mm long (with extended petals), fragrant, distinctly pedicelate, pedicels terete to slightly complanate, 3–5 x 1.5–3 mm; sepals ovate-lanceolate, apex acuminate and recurved, 10–15 x 3–3.5 mm, connate for 3–5 mm, pale green, ecarinate, glabrous, nerved, thin in texture, entire or remotely and sparsely denticulate; petals subspatulate, apex acute, 25–33 x 8.5–9 mm, white, distinctly exceeding the stamens, connate for 7–13 mm in a common tube with the filaments and style, bearing 2 well developed lateral callosities ca 15 mm above the base. stamens: filament ca 19 mm long, terete, white, adnate to the petals and style and forming a common tube 7–13 mm long; anther ca 2 mm long, fixed near the base, base sagittate, apex apiculate; pollen ellipsoid, sulcate, exine perforate to insulate. pistil: stigma conduplicate, white, the styler lobes suberect, ca 2 mm long, the extreme apex with scalloped margins; ovary broadly ellipsoid to subglobose in outline, 7 x 5–6 mm, subtrigonous, greenish, glabrous; epigynous tube lacking; placentation central; ovules obtuse. fruits much enlarged from the ovary, subglobose, ca 11 x 10 mm, greenish-white.Edited from : Leme 2007c. (protologue) Three Subtle new Cryptanthus Species from Espinhaço Range, Minas Gerais, Brazil .