Aphelandra hartwegiana Nees
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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 - Slender shrubs or small trees up to 4 meters high; stems quadrangular toward tip, minutely strigose, the hairs about 0.25 mm. long, closely appressed, the lenticels narrowly elliptical, corky, up to 1 mm. long; leaf blades oblong-ovate to elliptic, up to 25 cm. long and 11 cm. wide, acuminate (the tip itself obtuse and submucronulate, narrowed at base and decurrent on the petiole, subcoriaceous, entire or undulate, the upper surface glabrous, drying to olive or brownish, the costa shallowly channeled, the lateral veins (12 to 14 pairs) slightly raised, these and the costa scarcely conspicuous, the lower surface drying light olive, sparingly and inconspicuously strigose, the hairs about 0.5 mm. long, sordid, more numerous on costa and veins than elsewhere, those bordering costa sometimes more or less spreading; petioles (unwinged portion) 1.5 to 2 cm. long, minutely strigose; spikes terminal, solitary or often several, up to 45 cm. long and 3 cm. broad, the peduncles of the terminal spike up to 2 cm, long, those of the lateral spikes up to 14 cm. long, both peduncles and rachis stout, about 6 mm. in diameter, glabrous or sparingly and inconspicuously strigose; bracts red or orange (living), drying to brown (the border usually a blackish brown), broadly rhombic-ovate, 16 mm. long, 12 mm. wide, obtuse or rounded, more or less minutely apiculate, coriaceous, glabrous, the costa and lateral nerves prominent except toward tip, the ocelli replaced by irregular elliptic brown faveolate areas up to about 4 mm. long and 1.5 mm. wide ; bractlets oblong, falcate, oblique, 1 cm. long, about 4 mm. broad, subcarinate, obtuse, glabrous except the minutely and sparingly hirsute keel, the hairs about 0.25 mm. long, ascending; calyx 21 mm. long, the posterior segment oblong-elliptic, 8.5 mm. wide, the anterior pair oblong, 4.5 mm. wide, the lateral pair linear-oblong, 3.5 mm. wide, all coriaceous, glabrous, obtusish to acute, submucronulate at tip ; corolla 6 to 7 cm. long, glabrous, yellow or orange, the upper lip erect, lanceolate, 2 cm. long, about 6 mm. wide, bilobed at tip, the lobes triangular, about 5 mm. long and 3 mm. wide, acuminate and apiculate, the middle lobe of the lower lip spreading, lance-ovate, about 2 cm. long and 12 mm. wide, acuminate, the lateral segments about 7 mm. long, partly adnate to the upper lip of the corolla, their free portions triangular, about 1.5 mm. long and 1 mm. wide, obtuse; capsules (immature) obovoid, about 13 mm. long and 4 mm. in diameter, glabrous, nitid, minutely and sparingly punctate.
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Discussion
Wooded mountain slopes at lower elevations usually below 100 meters. Endemic. The species was named in honor of Karl Theodor Hartweg, a German collector of plants. During 1836 he traveled in Mexico to procure plant material for the Horticultural Society of London. He visited also Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and California. Accompanying Cuatrecasas' No. 17605 is the following note: "Frutex; tallo sencillo 60 cm. Inflorescencia prismatico tetragonal de bracteas imbricadas rojo anaranjadas, Calix rojo anaranjado. Corola amarilla." Haught says of his No. 4699 : "High slender shrub, to 4 m. high. Inflorescence a very showy, tetragonal prism of red bracts, large yellow flowers. Forests, usually along streams."