This new species was found at altitudes of about 800 m in the moun¬tains north of Licinio de Almeida, a town located in the south-central region of Bahia. The mountains of this region are somewhat contiguous with the mountains of Grao Mogol, Serranopolis de Minas, Mato Verde e Monte Azul in Minas Gerais and represents a more or less isolated outlier of the Espinhaqo Mountain Range.
Orthophytum macroflorum grows on sandstone outcrops, where the plants inhabits shallow cavities in the rock filled with sand derived from the weathering of the rock, and humus derived from the decaying of the scarce vegetation, what makes the substrate acidic and nutrient poor. The vegeta¬tion where the new species grows is termed campo rupestre, a very rich vegetation type composed of a mosaic of grassland and rock outcrops which provides a myriad of plant habitats where isolation has lead to very high lev¬els of endemism and species diversity. Associated plants include representa¬tives of the Orchidaceae (Pseudolaelia sp., Pleurothalis spp.), Velloziaceae (Vellozia spp., Barbacenia spp.), Eriocaulaceae (Syngonanthus spp., Paepalanthus spp.), Cactaceae (Pilosocereus superbus, Micranthocereus albicephalus, Melocactus bahiensis ssp. amethystinus, Cereus jamacaru, Brasilicereus phaeacanthus) and other Bromeliaceae (Vriesia sp., Tillandsia streptocarpa, Bromelia sp., Hohenbergia sp.). —SeeJ. Bromeliad Soc.
