Suffrutescent herbs; stems glabrous below, the upper portions spar- ingly hirsute, the hairs spreading, about 1 mm. long; leaf blades oblong-elliptic, up to 40 cm. long and 14 cm. wide, acuminate, nar- rowed from middle or slightly above middle to a very narrow, obliquely truncate or subcordate base 1 cm. wide, the veins terminating in broad teeth 1 to 3 mm. high and 2 to 2.5 cm. apart, the upper surface spar- ingly strigose, the hairs about 1.25 mm, long, the lower surface rather densely pilose, the hairs brownish, 0.75 to 1.25 mm. long, subappressed, those of the costa and veins (about 20 pairs) spreading horizontally, the venation prominent but more so beneath than above; petioles about 5 mm. long, glabrous or sparingly hirsute; spikes solitary, terminal, up to 11 cm, long and 5 cm. broad, moderately dense, the peduncle about 5 mm. long, hirsute, subtended by a pair of lanceolate, acumi- nate, leaflike bracts about 2.5 cm. long and 8 mm. wide, the rachis glabrous; bracts oblong-ovate, up to 4.5 cm, long and 17.5 mm. wide, obtusish at apex and minutely apiculate, livid purple, coriaceous, glabrous, noticeably crisped or twisted, closely veined, the margins subhyaline; bractlets oblong, 14 mm. long, 5.5 mm. wide at middle, acute, carinate and oblique at base, glabrous, the margins entire, sub- hyaline; calyx segments oblong-lanceolate, the posterior segment 16 mm. long and 4 mm, wide, the anterior pair 16 mm. long and 3.5 mm. wide, the lateral pair 13 mm. long and 3 mm. wide, all acute, glabrous, their margins subhyaline; corolla (immature) canary yellow, densely pubescent or subtomentose, the hairs 0.5 mm. long, the upper lip shorter than the middle lobe of the lower lip, ovate, minutely 2-lobed at tip, the lobes rounded, the lower lip 3-lobed, the middle lobe cordate, obtuse, the lateral lobes lanceolate, slightly shorter than the middle one; Ovary glabrous; capsules not seen. Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 179548, collected in wet forest of Quebrada del Río Afán, near Mocoa, Comisaría de Putumayo, Colombia, 570 to 680 meters, December 27, 1940, by J. Cuatrecasas (No. 11352).  Apparently unrelated to any other Colombian species, Aphelandra crispata can be recognized readily by its large oblong-elliptic leaves with their coarsely serrate margins, bright yellow corollas, and large coriaceous, crisped, livid purple bracts. It is impossible to state the dimensions of the mature corolla from the herbarium material examined. The name crispata alludes to the crisped, curled bracts.