plant saxicolous in iron-rich rocky soil, flowering ca 11 cm tall, slightly if at all caulescent, propagating by short basal shoots. leaves ca 12, suberect to spreading at anthesis, forming a laxly round rosette; sheath subreniform, 2–2.2 x 4 cm, pale whitish-green, densely and coarsely white-lepidote toward the apex abaxially, glabrous adaxially, spinulose at apex; blade sublinear, attenuate in an acuminate-caudate apex, not narrowed toward the base, 24–26 x1.3–1.8 cm, coriaceous but not at all succulent, strongly canaliculate toward the base with a broad u-shaped channel mainly under water stress, without any distinct thicker median zone, green to bronze colored, upper and lower sides contrasting, abaxially densely and coarsely white-lepidote, nerved, adaxially glabrous and sparsely nerved, margins straight, laxly spinose, spines 1.5–2.5 mm long, 8–25 mm apart, acicular, spreading to slightly antrorse, yellowish-castaneous toward the apex. inflorescence sessile, once-branched, ca 4 cm long, ca 3 cm in diameter (not including the primary bracts); primary bracts foliaceous, suberect to spreading; fascicles ca 11 in number, 18–20 x 12–15 mm (excluding the petals), 3 to 4 -flowered, flabellate to subpulvinate, densely disposed; floral bracts broadly triangular to triangular-ovate, acute and apiculate, submembranaceous toward the base and margins, greenish, abaxially densely and coarsely white-lepidote toward apex and margins, trichomes with lacerate-fimbriate margins, adaxially glabrous, distinctly shorter than the sepals, entire to remotely spinulose, carinate, cymbiform, 9–11 x 8–12 mm. flowers all perfect, sessile, 38–41 mm long (with extended petals), fragrant; sepals ovate-lanceolate, subobtuse and distinctly apiculate, 7 x 2–2.5 mm, connate at base for 2–3 mm, entire, greenish, subdensely and coarsely white-lepidote, the adaxial ones carinate with keel slightly decurrent on the ovary, the abaxial one obtusely if at all carinate; petals broadly spatulate, 31–33 x 9 mm, connate at base for 2–4 mm in a common tube with the filaments and style, white, the free lobes broadly obovate, obtuse to slightly emarginate, suberect at anthesis, distinctly exceeding the stamens, bearing 2 longitudinal callosities ca 15 long, basal tube very narrow. stamens: filament terete, white, 21–22 mm long, adnate to the common tube with the petals and style; anther sublinear, ca 2.5 mm long, dorsifixed near the base, base sagittate, apex obtuse; pollen broadly ellipsoidal, sulcate, exine microreticulate, lumina irregularly polygonal. pistil: ovary 6–7 x 3–4 mm, subtrigonous, greenish-white, glabrous or nearly so; epigynous tube lacking; placentation apical or nearly so; ovules numerous, globose, obtuse; style slightly exceeding the anthers; stigma conduplicate, white, the styler lobes terete, suberect, ca 2 x 0.3 mm, not contorted nor spiral, margins entire except for the inconspicuous papilose apical portion. fruits unknown.Edited from : Leme & Paula 2009. (protologue) Cryptanthus ferrarius, a New Species from the Iron-rich Soils of Minas Gerais, Brazil, on the Way to Extinction. .