plant terrestrial, homogamous, long caulescent, propagating by elongated shoots developing near the base of the inflorescence. leaves thin in texture, chartaceous, except for a thicker median zone mainly toward the base; sheath inconspicuous, densely spinulose; blade narrowly lanceolate, long attenuate and caudate, not narrowed at the base, glabrescent to glabrous, margins undulate, densely spinulose. inflorescence sessile, corymbose, sparsely branched only at the base and simple toward the apex; primary bracts foliaceous, not contrasting in color with the leaf blades. flowers fascicles only 1–2 in number, 2–4-flowered, stipes inconspicuous; floral bracts in the fascicles triangular, acuminate-caudate, membranaceous, hyaline, glabrous, nerved, slightly shorter than the sepals; floral bracts* in the unbranched apical part of the inflorescence subfoliaceous, many times exceeding (basal ones) to slightly shorter than the flowers (apical ones); flowers* all perfect, sessile, 42–55 mm long, fragrant; sepals connate at the base for 3–7 mm, the adaxial ones alate-carinate with the keel decurrent on the ovary, the abaxial one obtusely if at all carinate; petals broadly spathulate from a very narrow base, 35–44 × 15–20 mm, 1.8–2.9 times longer than wide, free, greenish-white toward the base, rose-lilac to lilac-purple toward the apex, the blades suborbicular, spreading at anthesis and flaccidescent afterwards, the distal margins bearing sparse and inconspicuous glandular trichomes, bearing 2 longitudinal callosities at the base, equaling to exceeding the antesepalous filaments and 2 appendages at the base; appendages thick, cupuliform, margins minutely and obtusely crenulate. stamens deeply included and not visible; filament distinctly unequal in length, the antepetalous ones basally adnate to the petals, the antesepalous ones free; anther dorsifixed at ca 1/3 from the base; pollen sulcate, oblate, ca 45 μm long, reticulate, reticulum broadly meshed proximally and meshes distinctly decreasing in width towards the sulcus margins, the sulcus narrow, covered by small exine elements, margins weakly defined. pistil: style slightly exceeding the antepetalous stamens and distinctly shorter than the antesepalous ones, white; stigma conduplicate-spiral, lobes elongated, loosely contorted, densely papillate; ovary trigonous; epigynous tube lacking; ovules numerous, obtuse; placentation median to apical. fruits baccate, subglobose, whitish toward the base, greenish at the apex, ca 8 × 7 mm, sepals persistent, 2.5–3.5 times longer than the fruit length; seeds numerous, 2 × 0.7–1 mm, slightly to distinctly curved.Edited from : Leme et al. 2017b. (protologue) New circumscription of Cryptanthus and new Cryptanthoid genera and subgenera (Bromeliaceae: Bromelioideae) based on neglected morphological traits and molecular phylogeny .