Suffretescent; stems glabrous; leaf blades oblong-elliptic, up to 30 cm. long and 10 cm. wide, acuminate(?), narrowed at base and decurrent on the petiole, membranaceous, entire, glabrous above, the lower surface bearing a thin pubescence of inconspicuous, closely ap pressed, brownish, straight hairs about 0.25 mm. long, the costa and lateral veins (12 or 13 pairs) prominent; petioles up to 4 cm. long, glabrous; spikes terminal, solitary, subsessile, up to 13 cm. long and 1.5 cm. broad, the rhachis densely white-silky-pubescent, the hairs straight, ascending, about 0.5 mm. long; bracts scarlet, ovate, 12 mm. long and 8 mm. wide at 3 mm. above base, obtuse at apex, ciliolate, the inner surface puberulous toward tip, the outer surface sparingly puberulous on and near the costa, the hairs appressed and minute, the costa and 3 pairs of lateral veins prominent, the ocelli replaced by a small, opaque, oval, alveolar area up to 2 mm. long and 1 mm. wide; bractlets narrowly lanceolate, 12 mm, long and 3 mm. wide at 3 mm. above base, narrowed to a slender tip, carinate, the keel densely white- pubescent, the hairs fine, ascending, about 0.5 mm. long, the inner surface appressed-pubescent medially and toward tip, the margins ciliate, bearing near base an ascending, subhyaline tooth about 1 mm. long; calyx segments chartaceous, striate, bearing a few minute hairs toward tip, otherwise glabrous, the posterior segment narrowly ovate, 13.5 mm. long, 4.5 mm. wide at 3 mm, above base, the anterior segments lanceolate, 13.5 mm. long and 3.25 mm. wide at 3 mm. above base, the lateral pair narrowly lanceolate, carinate, 11 mm. long and 2.25 mm. wide at 3 mm. above base, all acute and minutely apiculate at tip; corolla 5 cm. long, scarlet, minutely papillate without, densely pilose within at and near the attachment of the stamens, the hairs white, ascending, about 0.75 mm. long, the tube 3 mm. broad at base, 4 mm. broad at 4 mm. above base, then gradually narrowed to 3.5 mm. at 12 mm. above base, thence gradually enlarged to 7 mm. at throat, the upper lip ovate, 17 mm. long, 10 mm. wide at middle, bilobed at tip, the lobes narrowly triangular, 2 mm. long, 1 mm. wide at base, subulate at tip, the lower lip 3-lobed, the middle lobe elliptic, 6 mm. wide at middle, curved and acuminate at tip, the lateral lobes adhering in part to the upper lip, their free portions triangular, 1.25 mm. long, 1 mm. wide at base, obtuse; stamens slightly exserted, almost reaching the tip of the upper lip of the corolla, attached to the corolla tube at 6 mm. above base, the filaments sparingly pilose toward base, the anthers 7 mm. long and 1.5 mm. broad, their tips webby and slightly adhering; ovary glabrous; capsules not seen, Type in the Gray Herbarium, collected in forest along the Río Carare, east of Puerto Berrio, Department of Santander, Colombia, 300 to 400 meters altitude, September 28, 1945, by W. H. Hodge (No. 6513). Isotype in the herbarium of the Facultad de Agronomía, Medellín, Colombia. Aphelandra hodgei is related to A. straminea, also from Santander, which has the same soft, silky pubescence on the rachis, the large, oblong-elliptic leaf blades, these glabrous above and inconspicuously appressed-brown-hairy beneath, and firm, obtuse bracts with poorly defined glandular areas. Aphelandra straminea differs, however, in its much longer petioles and spikes. Peculiar, when compared with other related species, is the pair of thin but well-formed teeth on the inner margin of the bractlets near their base. Hodge states that the species is a common forest herb. The leaf blades of the material cited were so completely eaten by insects that no description of their tips can be made.