Shrub up to 3.5 meters high; stems terete, glabrous or the upper- most portions sparingly hirsute, the hairs appressed to spreading, up to 1.25 mm. long; leaf blades broadly oblanceolate, up to 18 cm. long and 6 cm. wide, short-acuminate (the tip itself obtuse), nar- rowed from above middle to a short, winged petiole, subcoriaceous, entire or undulate, the upper surface sparingly hirsute, the hairs ascending, about 0.75 mm. long, the lower surface rather densely hirsute, the hairs about 1 mm. long, ascending to spreading, light brown, the costa and lateral veins (15 to 17 pairs) slender but prominent, the veinlets rather conspicuously and coarsely anastomos- ing; petioles (unwinged portion) up to 1 cm. long, hirsute; spikes terminal, solitary or several in a fascicle, the terminal spike sub- sessile, the lateral spikes short-pedunculate, up to 8 cm. long and 1 cm. broad, the peduncles up to 1 cm. long, densely hirsute, the rhachis glabrous or sparingly pilose; bracts drying brown, rhombic-ovate, up to 11 mm. long and 7 mm. wide, acute and cuspidate at tip, minutely and inconspicuously puberulous or bearing a few longer hairs toward tip, the margins ciliate, the hairs 0.5 to 1 mm. long; ocelli usually 6, elliptic, dark brown, nitid, 0.75 to 1 mm. long, 0.5 to 0.75 mm. wide, contiguous or overlapping; bractlets ovate, obscurely striate-nerved, acute, 6 mm. long and 3.5 mm. wide, subauriculate at base, moderately hirsute, the hairs brownish, up to 0.5 mm. long, the costa rather promi- nent, indurate at base; calyx 9 to 11 mm. long, the segments puberulous, subcoriaceous, striate-nerved, indurate at base, the posterior segment oblong-ovate, 4.5 mm. wide, rounded and apiculate, the anterior pair oblong, 3.5 mm. wide, acute and apiculate, the lateral pair similar but slightly narrower; corolla 5.5 cm. long, red, puberulous, the hairs minute and conical, the tube 3 mm. broad at base, narrowed to 1.5 mm. at 5 mm. above base, thence enlarged to a subcylindric throat 6 mm. broad at mouth, the upper lip erect, narrowly oblong, about 5 mm. wide, bilobed, the lobes lanceolate, 18 mm. long, 4 mm. wide, acuminate, the lower lip 3-lobed, spreading, the middle lobe lance- olate, 17 mm. long, 7 mm. wide near base, acuminate, the lateral lobes triangular, about 5 mm. long, acute, the upper margins adnate to the lower part of the upper lip; stamens barely reaching tip of the upper corolla lip, the anthers 5.5 mm. long and 1.5 mm. broad, the filaments slender, retrorsely hirsute at base, otherwise glabrous; ovary glabrous. Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1352032, collected in a thicket in the Upper Río Lebrija Valley, northwest of Bucaramanga, Department of Santander, 400 to 700 meters altitude, December 29, 1926, by E. P. Killip and Albert C. Smith (No. 16283). An isotype is in the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden. The hirsute leaf blades and stems, the glabrous or sparingly pilose rachis and the narrow upper lip of the corolla with its long, slender lobes are characters by which Aphelandra albert-smithii can be recog- nized. Of the 4. pulcherrima-tetragona complex it is probably closest to A. haughtii.