plant short caulescent, forming an open rosette, 3–8 cm in diameter, ca 5 cm high when flowering. leaves 1.5–5 cm long, ca 30; sheath 0.45–0.95 × 0.5–1 cm, chartaceous, deltoid, whitish, margin entire, glabrous on both surfaces; blade 1.1–4.1 × 0.15–0.3 cm, linear, homomorphic, arching, nearly flat or channeled, coriaceous when dry, somewhat succulent when fresh, green, densely lepidote, on both sides, scales whitish, margin laxly dentate, apex mucronate, prickles 0.5–1 mm long, whitish, antrorse and/or retrorse. inflorescence sessile, simple or with few two-flowered fascicles; primary bracts erect, abaxial surface densely lepidote, margins serrulate, apex acute or attenuately acute; floral bracts ca 9.5 × 4.5 mm, triangular, erect, ecarinate, membranaceous, white, densely lepidote, margins entire, apex pungent. flowers ca 9 mm long excluding the petals, sessile; sepals ca 6.5 mm long, 5.5 mm wide, narrowly-ovate, asymmetric, chartaceous, whitish, the adaxial ones distinct from the abaxial ones, ecarinate, free, woolly lepidote, less lepidote inside, margins entire, apex apiculate; petals ca 1.1 cm long, lobe ca 0.3 cm wide, linear spatulate, not fleshy, white, free, margins ciliate or glabrous, apex of the lobes spreading to recurving, obtuse; petals* calli ca 6 mm long. stamens exceeding the pistil; filament free, ca 4 mm long, white; anther basifixed, elliptic, ca 2.5 mm long. pistil: stigma simple-erect, stigmatic area only along the apical margins of the lobes; epigynous tube absent; ovary ca 2.3 mm long, ovoid to near globose; ovule obtuse, caudate. fruits globose; seeds trigonous.Edited from : Versieux et al. 2010b. (protologue) An illustrated checklist of Bromeliaceae from Parque Estadual do Rio Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil, with notes on phytogeography and one new species of Cryptanthus .