Published as a new species in 2001, this Cryptanthus is native to the Atlantic rainforest in the State of Alagoas originally collected near the town of Paripueira, but its entire range occurs in the lowland forest along the Atlantic coast from the State of Espírito Santo to Pernambuco. It is a terrestrial, shortly caulescent, about 4 inches tall, propagating on slender basal stolons 6 to 8-inches long. About 12 bronze green leaves are sub-spreading at flowering forming an open, oval rosette to about 24-inches in diameter. The leaf bases are a pale purple-red with some scurfing in the axils and glabrous the entire length of the leaf with just a hint of scurf at the tips. While the underside is densely covered in white trichomes. This species is very closely related to pseudopetiolatus and pickelii, and part of the maritimus complex.
