The new species was encountered on the top of an inselberg in the the county of Guaratinga, south region of Bahia. The saxicolous plants occur in full sun forming small groups densely aggregated in depression of the granitic surface where a very shallow layer of organic substrate has accumulated. However, the larger groups of plants were found associated with large clumps of Aechmea sp. and Alcantarea sp. which provided them a partially shaded growing condition. Although the green leafed plants of Orthophytum guaratingense are more common at the type locality, we also observed reddish-leafed groups of plants in certain areas of the inselberg.
Despite the botanical richness of the region, which is under the Atlantic Forest Domain and is characterized by the presence of breathtaking inselberg formations, the whole area is severely affected by cattle breeding activities and periodic fires that is destroying the higher and more inaccessible parts of the inselbergs, where endemic species like Orthophytum guaratingense are confined. —SeeJ. Bromeliad Soc.
