Distribution and habitat: Alcantarea occulta is a terrestrial or sometimes rupicolous species, ranging from 900 to 1550 m elevation, in the counties of Alvarenga and Conselheiro Pena, Minas Gerais state. It was found in three different localities, two of them in Alvarenga, where populations with higher number of individuals were documented and cited here, and one population with a few specimens at Pico do Padre Angelo, the most elevated mountain in the region, in the neighboring county of Conselheiro Pena, without fertile collected specimen.
This new species usually lives partially hidden in shrubby and subshrubby vegetation of an intermediate physiognomy between altitude Atlantic Forest and Campos Rupestres. This is an unusual habitat condition for species of this genus, which is traditionally known for growing in open, well exposed rocky sites, and the terrestrial habit is supposed to occur only accidentally (Leme 2007). It grows as solitary individuals or forms small and dense clumps due to vegetative propagation by means of short axillary shoots. When sterile, A. occulta can hardly be spoted in the shrubby vegetation, but its comparatively tall and showy inflorescences usually equal or exceed the surrounding shrubs, making it visible from a distance in the blooming season. —SeeLeme & Kollmann 2013
