plant saxicolous, stemless, ca 6 cm long, ca 30 cm in diameter, propagating by short basal rhizomes. leaves 15 to 18 in number, suberect to spreading, forming a subdense to lax, open round rosette; sheath suborbicular, 1.5 x 2.3 cm, pale green, densely white-lepidote toward the apex and distinctly corrugate abaxially, glabrous adaxially, densely spinulose toward apex, greenish; blade narrowly triangular, long acuminate-caudate, 14–17 x 1.4–1.9 cm, green except for sometimes the dark red margins, thinly coriaceous or nearly so, not succulent and without any thicker median channel, from plain to canaliculate with a u-shaped channel mainly under water stress, upper and lower sides slightly contrasting, abaxially densely white-lepidote, trichomes partially obscuring leaf color, nerved, adaxially glabrous or nearly so, bearing conspicuous longitudinal nerves, margins subdensely to densely spinose; spines narrowly triangular, prevailing slightly antronse-uncinate, dark red, 0.5–1.5 mm long, 2–6 mm apart. inflorescence distinctly once-branched, many flowered; primary bracts foliaceous; fascicles the basal ones 3 to 4-flowered, flabellate, slightly complanate, 18–20 x 10–11 mm (excluding the petals), basal peduncle ca 5 x 4 mm, white-lanate; floral bracts triangular, acuminate, 8–9 x 7 mm, membranaceous, greenish-hyaline, entire, carinate, nerved, densely and coarsely white-lepidote at apex with fimbriate trichomes, whitelanate at base, slightly exceeding the ovary to equaling the middle of the sepals. flowers 29–30 mm long (with extended petals), sessile, strongly fragrant; sepals oblong-ovate to elliptic, acute and distinctly apiculate, 8–9.5 x 2.5–3 mm, subequally connate at base for ca 3 mm, entire, glabrous, green; petals spatulate, apex broadly acute, 23–24 x 7–8 mm, very narrow toward base, connate at base for 2–2.5 mm in a common tube with the filaments and style, suberect to subspreading at anthesis, distinctly exceeding the stamens, white, without any distinct callosities. stamens: filament white, terete, the antesepalous ones 14–16 mm long, the antepetalous ones 13–14 mm long, both adnate for 2–2.5 mm in a common tube with petals and style; anther 2–3 mm long, fixed at 1/3 of its length above the base, base distinctly setaceous-sagittate, apex obtuse; pollen narrowly ellipsoid, sulcate, exine perforate to insulate, muri thicked. pistil: stigma conduplicate, white, stylar lobes terete, suberect, ca 1.5 mm long, linear, terete, apex obtuse, at apex margins inconspicuously papillose; ovary ca 6 x 4 mm, trigonous, greenish, glabrous; epigynous lacking; placentation apical; ovules obtuse. fruits unknown.Edited from : Leme 2007c. (protologue) Three Subtle new Cryptanthus Species from Espinhaço Range, Minas Gerais, Brazil .