Aphelandra blandii Lindau, Bull. Herb. Boiss. 5: 656. 1897. Type collected at Santa Fé de Bogotá, Colombia, by Bland, and deposited in the Berlin Her- barium. Photographs of the type in the U. S. National Herbarium (Field Mus. photograph No. 8701; Copenhagen Herbarium No. 22154). Suffrutescent; stems terete, glabrous except the tips, these sparingly strigose, the hairs upwardly appressed, about 0.5 mm, long; leaf blades oblong-ovate, 15 to 25 cm. long, 4 to 8 cm. wide, acuminate at apex, more or less abruptly narrowed at base into a broadly winged petiole, entire or shallowly crenate, the upper surface drying dull green, glabrous, the lower surface drying light green, glabrous except the costa and lateral veins (10 to 12 pairs), these sparingly pubescent; petioles (unwinged portion) about 1 cm. long, strigose; spikes one to several, terminal and axillary, 5 to 17 cm. long, about 1 cm. broad, the rachis glabrous; bracts lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 12 mm. long, 4 to 5 mm. wide, acute to acuminate, prominently 3-nerved, glabrous, ciliate, the ocelli replaced by dull, elliptical, alveolate areas up to 2 mm. long and 1.5 mm. wide; bractlets lanceolate, 8 to 10 mm. long, 1.5 to 2 mm. wide, carinate, the keel pubescent, the hairs whitish, ascending, about 0.5 mm. long; calyx segments oblong-lanceolate, 15 to 16 mm. long, 2 to 3.5 mm. wide, acute to acuminate and more or less apiculate, striate-nerved, glabrous; corolla up to 7 cm. long, minutely papillose, red, the tube up to 5 cm. long, 3 mm. broad at base, 5 mm. broad at mouth, the upper lip oblong, ovate, erect, 23 mm. long, 5 mm. wide at base, 2-lobed at apex, the lobes lanceolate, acuminate, 8 mm. long, 3 mm. wide at base, the lower lip more or less spreading, 3-lobed, the middle lobe oblong, about 25 mm. long and 5 mm. wide, obtuse and apiculate, the lateral lobes oblong, about 5 mm. long and 2 mm. wide, subacute, adnate in part to the base of the upper lip; stamens barely reaching tip of upper lip, the anthers slender, about 7 mm. long and 1 mm. broad, glabrous; ovary 3 mm. long, glabrous; style about 5.5 cm. long; capsules subclavate, 15 mm. long, 6 mm, broad, 3 mm. thick, obtuse at tip and apiculate, glabrous, minutely and inconspicuously punctate; retinacula linear, 3 mm. long and 0.5 mm. broad, subcucullate at tip; seeds brown, flat, 4 mm. long, 3.5 mm. wide, 1 mm. thick, gla- brous, the margins thin. Lindau, comparing Aphelandra blandii with A. hartwegiana, states that A. blandi differs from that species by having acuminate bracts and calyx lobes and pubescent bractlets. He suggests also a relation- ship with A. glabrata, a species with a shorter calyx and a densely pubescent rachis. Araque & Barkley's No. 19An.032 was collected in rich soil of a previously wooded mountain area at 2,700 meters altitude. ANTIOQUIA: East of Bolívar, Araque & Barkley 19An.032 (US). Jericó, Daniel & Tomás 2589 (GH, US).