plant saxicolous or epilithic, homogamous, stemless or long caulescent, propagating by short axillary shoots. leaves coriaceous, forming non-impounding rosettes; sheath inconspicuous; blade lanceolate to sublinear, concolorous, not narrowed to slightly narrowed at the base, margins straight, spinulose. inflorescence compound or rarely simple, sessile, corymbose, with basal/outer fascicles inconspicuously stipitate; primary bracts foliaceous; fascicles the basal ones 2–5-flowered, complanate to slightly pulvinate; floral bracts in the fascicles ovate-triangular, membranaceous, up to equaling the sepals. flowers sessile to shortly pedicellate, fragrant, diurnal; sepals connate at the base for 1/5–1/2 of their length; petals with broadly elliptic-ovate or rarely narrowly spathulate blades, basally connate for 1/10–1/3 of their length or rarely free, 2.5–4 times longer than wide, suberect to spreading at anthesis (at least the distal portion) and exposing the stamens, white or rarely greenish-yellow, unappendaged. stamens more or less erect; filament equal in length, adnate at the base to the petals and forming a distinct common structure with petals and style, or rarely not adnate, free to highly connate with the petals above the basal concrescent structure; anther narrowly oblong, distinctly bilobed at the base, not laterally complanate, white to greenish-yellow, straight or slightly recurved at anthesis; pollen sulcate, oblate, ca 50 μm, usually microreticulate or sometimes perforate or reticulate, reticulum finely meshed, sulcus covered with sparse small exine elements, borders weakly defined. pistil: ovary subellipsoid to subglobose; epigynous tube inconspicuous or lacking; ovules globose, obtuse to obtusely apiculate, numerous; stigma cylindric-distent, white or rarely greenishyellow, equaling to distinctly exceeding the anthers, lobes suberect, cylindraceous towards the base, without papillae except for the expanded distal portion (1/5–2/5, rarely up to 1/2 of their length), usually spoon-shaped, with margins crenulate and bearing usually inconspicuous or rarely conspicuous and densely arranged papillae. fruits baccate, 6–10 × 5–8 mm, green to greenish toward the apex and whitish toward the base, sepals persistent, usually slightly shorter to equaling the fruit length or rarely up to 1.4 times the fruit length; seeds 1.5–2 × 0.7–1.5 mm, 35–75 in number;.Edited from (25-08-2017): Leme et al. 2017b. New circumscription of Cryptanthus and new Cryptanthoid genera and subgenera (Bromeliaceae: Bromelioideae) based on neglected morphological traits and molecular phylogeny .