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Family: Acanthaceae
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Shrubs about 1 meter high; stems subquadrangular, thick (up to 8 mm. in diameter at base of inflorescence), the upper portions densely gray-pubescent or subtomentose, the hairs upwardly appressed or ascending, about 0.5 mm. long; lenticels light brown, corky, prominent, orbicular, oval or elongate, up to 3 mm. long; leaf blades oblanceolate, up to 36 cm. long and 10 cm. wide (slightly above the middle), acute at apex, gradually narrowed from above middle to base and decurrent on the petiole, the margins crenate, the upper surface drying dark olive-green, the costa and lateral nerves (about 21 pairs) densely hirtellous, the hairs brownish, appressed or ascending, 0.25 to 0.5 mm. long, the surface between the veins sparingly and inconspicuously hirtellous, the lower surface drying a light grayish olive-green, densely and softly pilose, the hairs 0.25 to 0.75 mm. long, ascending or spread- ing or those on costa and veins somewhat appressed; petioles 2 to 3 cm. long, subtomentose; spikes terminal and axillary, forming a rather loose, leafy panicle up to 27 cm. long and 17 to 20 cm. broad, the branches of the panicle ascending, 1 to 13 cm. long, light gray-tomen- tose, the spikes up to 9 cm. long and 5 to 8 mm. broad, the rachis silvery tomentose, except the glabrous region adjacent to the posterior calyx segment; bracts bright scarlet, drying brown, triangular-ovate, subcarinate, 8 mm. long, 4.5 mm. wide at 2 mm. above base, thence gradually narrowed to a slender tip, coriaceous, coarsely striate, minutely puberulous, the margins ciliolate, the hairs up to 0.5 mm. long; ocelli occurring usually in pairs, elliptic, 1 mm. long and 1.75 mm. wide, brown, nitid, indistinctly alveolate; bractlets lanceolate, carinate, 7 mm. long, 2 mm. wide at 2.5 mm. above base, thence grad- ually narrowed to a slender tip, the keel densely silvery pilose, the hairs ascending, about 0.5 mm. long, the region adjacent to the keel puberulous, the marginal area subhyaline and glabrous, the margins sparingly ciliolate; calyx 7 mm. long, the segments lanceolate, finely striate-nerved, minutely and inconspicuously puberulous, tipped by a tuft of hairs about 0.25 mm. long, the posterior segment 2.25 mm. wide near base, the anterior pair 1.75 mm. wide, the lateral pair 1 mm. wide, all narrowed from near base to a sharp, slender tip; corolla bright scarlet, 5 cm. long from base to tip of upper lip, finely puberu- lous, the hairs conical, the tube 4 mm. broad near base, narrowed to 1.5 mm. at 7 mm. above base, thence enlarged to 7 mm. near mouth, the upper lip narrowly ovate, 21 mm. long and 6 mm, wide at middle, tipped by 2 triangular acuminate lobes about 3 mm. long and 1.5 mm. wide at base, the middle lobe of the lower lip lanceolate, 22 mm. long, 5 mm. wide, slenderly acuminate, the lateral lobes adnate to the lower part of the upper lip, their free portions small, about 1 mm. long; stamens slightly exserted beyond the mouth of the corolla tube, the anthers 6 mm. long and 1 mm, broad, retrorsely pilose dor- sally; ovary glabrous; capsules not seen. Type in the Gray Herbarium, collected in deep woods on hill back of Tres Esquinas Mill, Villavicencio, Intendencia of Meta, Colombia, July 12, 1945, by Helen Schiefer (No. 791). Fragment of type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1934948. A Triana collection, without number (Col, NY), from Servitá, vicinity of Villavicencio, 300 to 900 meters altitude, December 1855, is also of this species. If compared with any of the numerous segregates of Aphelandra pulcherrima, A. schieferae is conspicuous because of the large, oblan- ceolate, crenate leaves of the inflorescence, these softly pubescent be- neath; the large, silky, subtomentose inflorescence; the silvery, tomentose rachis; and the triangular, sharply pointed bracts, orna- mented with two pairs of rather large nitid elliptic ocelli. |