Aphelandra pharangophila Leonard

Aphelandra pharangophila Leonard

Aphelandra pharangophila Leonard, Contrib. U.S. Nat. Herb. 31:275. 1953.

Aphelandra arborescens Leonard, Contrib. U.S. Nat. Herb. 31:277. 1953.

Shrubs or small trees to 5 m high, with brownish pubescence; stems subquadrangular, glabrous below, the tips densely strigose, the hairs 0.5 mm long; leaf blades oblanceolate to broadly oblanceolate or obovate, to 25 cm long and 10 cm wide, acute to acuminate at apex (the tip itself blunt), narrowed from about middle to base and decurrent on the petiole, drying olive brown, subchartaceous, the margins entire or undulate, the upper surface glabrous or nearly so, the costa and lateral veins (13–15 pairs) sometimes bearing a few small appressed hairs, the lower surface drying yellowish, finely pubescent, the costa and veins prominent; petioles (unwinged portion) 1–4 cm long, the hairs resembling those of the stem tips; spikes 1 to several, short-pedunculate, 3.5–10 cm long, about 1 cm broad, the peduncles 5–20 mm long, densely strigose, the rachis glabrous to densely pubescent at and near insertion of the bracts; bracts carmine, rhombic-ovate, entire, 7–10 mm long, 5.5–6 mm wide, rounded at tip, glabrous within, strigose without, the hairs borne medially for the most part, the margins ciliate, the ocelli consisting of elliptic, dark brown alevolate areas, to 1.25 mm long and 0.75–1 mm wide; bractlets narrowly and obliquely lanceolate, 6.5–7 mm long, 1–1.75 mm wide near base, gradually narrowed to a slender tip, carinate, densely hirsute dorsally, the hairs about 0.5 mm long, the margins thin, glabrous and delicately striate; calyx 7–8 mm long, the posterior segment oblong, 4 mm wide, acute, the anterior segments lanceolate, 2 mm wide, acute, the lateral pair narrowly lanceolate, 1.5 mm wide at base, slenderly acute, all of the segments finely striate, glabrous except at tips, here puberulous; corolla carmine, minutely papillose, 5.5–6.5 cm long, the tube 4.5 cm long, 3–3.5 mm broad at base, narrowed at 4 mm above base to 2 mm, thence enlarged to about 7.5 mm at throat, the upper lip erect, oblong, 1.7–2 cm long and 1 cm wide, bilobed, the lobes triangular and slenderly acuminate, 5 mm long, 2 mm wide at base, the tips outwardly curved, the middle lobe of the lower lip oblong to narrowly ovate, about 2 cm long, 5 mm wide near middle, slenderly acuminate at tip, the lateral lobes adhering to the lower part of the upper lip, their free portions triangular, 1.5 mm long, 1 mm wide at base, rounded at tip; stamens reaching the notch of the upper lip; anthers 4.5 mm long, 0.75 mm wide, rounded and minutely apiculate at base; filaments glabrous toward tip, somewhat pilose toward base; ovary glabrous; style about as long as the stamens; capsule not seen.

TYPE.—E. Killip 5676 (holotype GH), Colombia, Valle, in wooded ravine at La Cumbre, 1600–1800 m alt, 14–19 May 1922.

DISTRIBUTION.—At elevations above 1000 meters in the departments of Tolima, Valle, and Cauca, Colombia. COLOMBIA. TOLIMA: Quindío, 1854, Triana s.n. (COL, K, P). VALLE: At La Laguna, on the left bank of the Río Sanguinini, 1400 m alt, 10–20 Dec l94S,Cuatrecasas 15400 (US, holotype of A. arborescens Leonard); Río Cauca, 1200 m alt, 10 Aug 1930, Dryander 681 (US); junction of the Pichindecito and Pichinde rivers, 1580–1650 m alt, 7 Nov 1944, Cuatrecasas 18751 (COL); Río Bravo, NW of Darien, 1410 m alt, 26 Jun 1962, Hugh-Jones 121 (K, US); near Las Ollas, NW of Restrepo, 1200 m alt, 9 Aug. 1962, Robinson 176 (K, US); Prov. Cauca, Timba, 1100 m alt, 3 Mar 1937, von Sneidern 1113 (S, US). CAUCA: Aganche, Lehmann B.T. 1165 (K, NY).