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Family: Acanthaceae
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Suffrutescent shrub up to 1 meter high; stems glabrous; leaf blades oblong-elliptic, up to 35 cm. long and 12.5 cm. wide, short-acuminate (the tip itself blunt), more or less abruptly narrowed at base and de- current on the petiole, membranaceous, entire, undulate or subcrenate, glabrous or the lower surface very sparingly and minutely strigose, the costa and lateral veins (15 or 16 pairs) slender but prominent; petioles (unwinged portion) up to 5 cm. long, glabrous or sparingly and minutely strigose; spikes 1 to several, up to 15 cm. or occasion- ally as much as 30 cm. long, 1 cm. broad, the terminal spike subsessile, the others short-peduncled, the peduncles up to 1 cm. long, glabrous, the rachis white-tomentose; bracts rhombic-ovate, light brown, 7.5 mm. long, 6 mm. wide at 8.5 mm. above base, subacute, drying light brown, glabrous or the medial region minutely and inconspicuously pubescent, the margins densely ciliolate, the costa and lateral nerves (several pairs) prominent; ocelli usually 6 or 7, suborbicular, 0.5 to 0.75 mm. in diameter, light brown, nitid, contiguous; bractlets lance- olate, oblique, carinate, 8 mm. long, 2 mm. wide near base, finely stri- ate-nerved, subhyaline on margin, glabrous within, pubescent without, the hairs at tip 0.25 mm. long, the others shorter; calyx segments 8 mm. long, acute, coriaceous, striate-nerved, pilose at tip, the hairs up to 0.25 mm. long, otherwise minutely puberulous, the posterior seg- ment narrowly ovate, 4 mm. wide, the anterior pair oblong-lanceolate, 3 mm. wide, the lateral pair linear-lanceolate, 1.5 mm. wide; corolla scarlet, minutely papillose, 5 to 5.5 cm. long, the tube 4 mm. broad at base, narrowed to 1.5 mm. at 6 mm. above base, thence enlarged to a subcylindric throat, 6.5 mm. broad at mouth, the upper lip erect, oblong-ovate, 18 mm. long, 7 mm. wide, bilobed at apex, the lobes triangular, 7 mm. long, 3.5 mm. wide at base, acuminate, the lower lip trilobed, the middle lobe more or less spreading, lanceolate, about 18 mm. long, 6 mm. wide, acuminate and recurved at tip, the lateral lobes oblong, about 4 mm. long and 1 mm, wide, obtusish, their upper mar- gins connate with the lower part of the upper lip; stamens reaching notch of upper lip, the anthers 6.5 mm. long, 1.5 mm. broad, obtuse and apiculate at both ends, the filaments puberulous near base, otherwise glabrous; ovary glabrous. Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1954078, collected in rich soil of damp, rocky woods on the banks of the Río Guatiquía between the foothills and plains in the vicinity of Villavicencio, Intendencia of Meta, Colombia, 350 meters altitude, November 20, 1948, by Jorge Araque-Molina and Fred A. Barkley (No. 18M.033). An isotype is also in the U. S. National Herbarium. CUNDINAMARCA: Quetamé to Villavicencio, Pérez-Arbeláez 35 (Col). Tequen- dama Casas, Trianas. n. (NY). META: Woods along the Río Guatiqufa, 500 meters altitude, March 18 and 19, 1939, Killip 34489 (US). Dense, humid forest along Río Guejar, 400 meters altitude, November 7, 1949, Philipson, Idrobo & Fernandez 1351 (US). Villa- vicencio, 500 meters altitude, November 9, 1938, Cuatrecasas 4538 (US); Haught 2528 (US). Ocoa, near Villavicencio, July 21, 1945, Schiefer 851 (US). Apial, Llano de San Martín, Triana 8. n. (Col). Characters by which Aphelandra barkleyi may be recognized are its membranous, nearly glabrous leaf blades, its glabrous stems, and light brown, acute, rhombic-ovate bracts. Conspicuous on this light brown background of the bracts are the darker brown nitid ocelli so closely contiguous as to appear, without a lens, as a single spot. In general appearance A. barkleyi is somewhat like A. lingua-bovis, but that species has slightly larger bracts (up to 1.5 cm. long instead of only 7.5 mm.) bearing alveolar spots instead of well-defined ocelli. The spike of Schiefer's No. 851 is blackened with the characteristic light brown of the bracts obscured. The spikes of Haught's No. 2528 are exceedingly long (30 cm.) and the red corollas are tipped with yellow. |