Aphelandra pulcherrima (Jacq.) Kunth
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Authority
Leonard, Emery C. 1953. The Acanthaceae of Colombia, II. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 31: i-viii, 119-322.
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Family
Acanthaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Description - Shrubs or suffrutescent herbs up to 3 meters high stems erect, sparingly branched, obscurely quadrangular toward tip, pubescent to tomentose, the hairs about 0.5 mm. long, straight and more or less spreading or variously curved, whitish, the lower portions of the stems terete, light grayish green, sparingly pubescent to glabrate, the lenti-eels scattered, elliptic, 0.5 to 1 mm. long, corky; leaf blades ovate to oblong-elliptic, 8 to 20 cm. long, 3.5 to 10 cm. wide, short-acuminate (the tip itself blunt and minutely apiculate to acutish), narrowed at base and decurrent on the petiole, entire, undulate or shallowly crenate, the supper surface drying olive, finely pubescent or glabrate, the hairs curved, less than 0.5 mm. long, subappressed, the costa flat or shallowly impressed, the lateral veins (16 to 20 pairs) 3 to 14 mm. apart, slightly raised, the lower surface drying to light green or gray, softly and usually densely pubescent, the hairs up to 1 mm. long, curved to nearly straight, the pubescence usually denser on costa and veins, these prominent, the veinlets finely reticulate; petioles about 5 mm. long, the pubescence similar to that of the costa; spikes solitary or several in a fascicle, quadrangular, terminal, subsessile, up to 10 cm. long and 8 mm. broad, the rachis white-cottony-tomentose; bracts rhombic-ovate, 6 to 7 mm. long, 4.5 to 5 mm. wide at middle, 2 to 3 mm. wide at base, acute at apex, dorsally finely and densely puberulous becoming white-pilose toward base, ventrally glabrous except toward margins, here finely pubescent, obscurely striate-nerved, the costa and a pair of lateral nerves prominent, reticulately veined toward margin; ocelli solitary, in twos, or sometimes several, distinct or more or less fused, conspicuous, orbicular to elliptic, 0.5 to 1 mm. long, about 0.75 mm. wide, dark brown or blackish, nitid; bractiets lanceolate, 7 mm. long, about 2 mm. wide near base, acute at apex, falcate, obliquely subcarinate, puberulous without, glabrous within, finely striate-nerved; calyx about 8 mm. long, the posterior segment oblong, 3 mm. wide, the lateral segments lanceolate, about 2 mm. wide, the middle pair narrowly lanceolate, 1.5 mm. wide, all acute and striate-nerved; corolla bright red or scarlet, minutely puberulous, 5 to 6 cm. long, about 3 mm. broad at base, narrowed to 1.5 mm. at tip of ovary, thence gradually enlarged and slightly ventricose, about 6 mm. broad at mouth, the upper lip erect, ovate, 15 mm. long, 9 mm. wide, 2-lobed, the lobes narrowly triangular, 9 mm. long and 4 mm. wide, slenderly acuminate, the lower lip 3-lobed, erect or spreading with age, the middle lobe linear-oblong, 24 mm. long and 7 mm. wide, abruptly acuminate, the lateral lobes about 3 mm. long and 1 mm. wide, ob-tusish, adnate in part to the upper lip; stamens exserted about 7 mm. beyond the mouth of the corolla tube; ovary and style glabrous; capsules oblong, obtuse at apex, glabrous.