Aphelandra amoldii Mildbraed

Aphelandra amoldii Mildbraed

Aphelandra arnoldii Mildbraed, Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin 11:63. 1930.—Leonard, Contrib. U.S. Nat. Herb. 31:153. 1953.

Herbs; stem short, less than 5 cm long; roots long and numerous, extending apparently a little above the ground; leaves subrosulate, crowded, the blades narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, 15–30 cm long and 5.5 cm wide, short-acuminate, the tip obtuse, long and narrowly decurrent on the petiole, the upper surface short-pilose, the costa plane, the lateral veins (15–17 pairs) forming angles of about 70 degrees, arcuate, ascending; petioles 4–6 cm long; flowers borne in spikes, the scape axillary, about 25 cm long, puberulous, extending above the rosette of leaves, the spike itself 5–8 cm long; bracts erect-spreading, scarcely imbricate, lanceolate, 6–8 mm long, barely 2 mm wide, acute, scarcely pungent, ciliate, the hairs erect-spreading, the margins bearing a few minute teeth, the internodes about 5 mm long; bractlets similar to the bracts but only 4 mm long and slenderly subulateacute; calyx segments thinly scarious, pale, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 4–5 mm long, the interior ones a little shorter than the others and noticeably narrower; corolla bright rosy, the tube narrowly cylindric, suberect, about 1 cm long, the lobes of the lower lip broadly rounded, broadly cuneate toward base, the middle one 7 mm long and 5 mm wide, the lateral ones slightly smaller, the posterior pair much smaller (2.5–4 mm long); stamens included, subequal; anthers oblong, obtuse, their tips cohering; filaments epipetalous slightly above the middle of the corolla tube; ovary 1.5 mm long.

TYPE.—A. Schultze 771 (holotype B, destroyed, F photo 8697), Colombia, Magdalena, in damp humus on wooded slope at San Lorenzo, 2150 m alt, Feb 1927.

DISTRIBUTION.—At elevations above 2000 meters in northern Venezuela and Colombia. VENEZUELA. MÉRIDA: Quebrada La Mucuy-El Volcán, 2200 m alt, 15 Jan 1953, Bernardi 278 (NY).