Aphelandra gracilis Leonard

Aphelandra gracilis Leonard

Aphelandra gracilis Leonard, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 56:54. 1943.

Shrub or small tree to 6 m high; branches strigillose or the lower glabrate, the cystoliths conspicuous; leaf blades lanceolate to oblonglanceolate, to 16 cm long and 6 cm wide, acuminate (the tip itself blunt), narrowed at base and decurrent on the petiole, entire, glabrous except on the costa and veins (8–10 pairs), these strigillose; flowers spreading, geminate, lax, borne on 1 to several slender terminal or subterminal spikes to 12 cm long, the rachis sparingly puberulous, the internodes mostly 6–8 mm long; bracts ovate, entire, to 8 mm long, 4.5 mm wide, acutish, pubescent without, glabrous within, ciliolate, bearing on either side of the costa several small, sessile, nitid elliptical glands; bractlets lanceolate, 7 mm long, 2 mm wide, acuminate, sparingly puberulous without, sparingly ciliolate, subcarinate, striate, the margins hyaline; calyx about 8 mm long, subglabrous, divided nearly to base, the segments lanceolate, 1.5–2 mm wide, acumiate, striate; corolla scarlet, puberulous, more or less curved, 5–5.5 cm long, about 2 mm in diameter at base, about 6 mm at throat, the lips 2 cm long, the upper lip erect, 2-lobed, the lobes triangular, 9 mm long, 4 mm wide at base, acuminate, the lower lip spreading, the middle lobe lanceolate, 18 mm long, about 5 mm wide, acute, the lateral lobes ovate, about 1 mm long; stamens exserted about 1.2 cm beyond mouth of the corolla tube; the filaments about 5 cm long, affixed at the base of the throat, glabrous; the anthers 6 mm long, apiculate, glabrous; capsule clavate, 22 mm long, 6.5 mm broad, 4.5 mm thick, glabrous, puncticulate, 4-seeded; mature seed not seen.

TYPE.—P. H. Allen 2908 (holotype US), Panama, Coclé, N of El Valle de Antón, 1000 m alt, 13 Jan 1942.

DISTRIBUTION.—Endemic to Panama, found in low cloud forests near the summit. PANAMA. COCLE: El Valle de Antón, along Río Indio trail, 500–700 m alt, 30 Jan 1935, Hunter & Allen 311 (US); vicinity La Mesa, 1000 m alt, 21 Jan 1941, Allen 2301 (US). PANAMA: Cerro Campana, 31 Dec 1957, C. Earle Smith, Jr. & H. Morgan Smith 3356 (PH, US); Cerro Jefe, 870 m alt, 12 Mar 1967, Dwyer, Gauger, & Baker 7241 (MO, US).