C. clavellina Karsten, Fl. Columb. 1(4): 159, t. LXXIX. 1861. — "Crescit in Cordillera Granatensi, prope oppidum Ocaña, altitudine 1000 metr." — No typus seen, but the ample description and superlative illustration are decisive. — Equated with C. purdiaei by Bentham, 1875: 556.

Arborescent shrubs (1.5—)2—8 m, closely resembling C. pittieri in habit, phyllotaxy, vesture and inflorescence, the peduncles mostly arising from primary lf-axils. Stipules 4—11 x 1.7-3 mm, 7-13-nerved when young. Lf-formula vii—xiii/(33—)35—52(—60); lf-stks (6—)8—17 cm, the petiole 7-25(-30) mm, at middle 0.6-1.4 mm, the longer interpinnal segments (6-) 14—19 mm; rachis of longer pinnae (2.5-)3.5-6.5 (-8) cm, the longer interfoliolar segments 0.4—1.4 mm; lft- pulvinules 0.1-0.25 mm; lft-blades linear or linear- lanceolate from obtusangulate or subauriculate base, straight or subfalcate, mostly acute, the larger ones (4.5-)4.7-8(-10) x 0.7-1.5 mm, 4.4-6.6 times as long as wide; venation of C. pittieri. Peduncles (2-)2.5-5.5 cm, bracteate as C. pittieri; capitula 18—33-fld, the receptacle including short pedestal 2.5-5.5 mm diam; bracts subulate or linear 1.3-6 mm, tardily deciduous; fls heteromorphic; perianth 5-merous, thinly puberulent or glabrous, the calyx striate, the corolla externally nerveless; PERIPHERAL FLS: pedicel (0.7-) 1.2-2.7 mm; calyx (4-)5.3-7.2 x 1.3-3.5 mm, the subulate or lanceolate teeth 1.5-3.2 mm; corolla 10-11.5 mm, the ovate lobes 2.2-3.5 mm; andreocium 28-40- merous, 4.4-6.5 cm, the tube 7-11 mm, the stemon- ozone (0.8-) 1.2-2 mm, the tassel carmine throughout; CENTRAL FL(S): perianth nearly of peripheral fls but sometimes broader; androecial tube broadly cylindric, ± twice as long as corolla. Pods (few seen) 9-12 x 1-1.3 cm, 5-8-seeded, venulose and thinly puberulent as in C. pittieri; seeds 9-11 x 6.5-8.5 mm, the testa papery, dull brown, pleurogram 0.

In seasonally dry, semideciduous and moist evergreen forest, sometimes along streams, surviving disturbance in hedgerows and in pasture thickets, 50980 m, locally plentiful near the w. margin of Maracaibo Basin in Zulia, Venezuela, and in valleys of Cordillera Oriental in Norte de Santander and Santander, Colombia; in Colombia known also in cultivation on the n. slope of Sa. de Sta. Marta, in middle Magdalena valley (Mariquita, Melgar, Quindío) and near Villavicencio, probably elsewhere. — Map 2. — Fl. XI-V. — Cujicito.

Calliandra purdiaei differs from closely related C. pittieri in the longer calyx, and in slightly more numerous filaments that are red throughout.