Herbs; stem erect or ascending, subhexagonal, glabrous or sparingly hirtellous, the hairs closely appressed, minute; leaf blades lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, up to 4 cm. long and 1.5 cm. wide, acuminate (the tip itself blunt), rounded or narrowed at base and briefly de- current on the petiole, entire or undulate, firmly membranaceous, both surfaces glabrous or very sparingly hirtellous, the lower surface minutely papillate under lens, the costa and lateral veins (4 or 5 pairs) moderately conspicuous; petioles slender, up to 4 mm. long, glabrous or the channels minutely hirtellous; flowers borne on narrow open panicles up to 18 cm. long and 5 cm. broad or more, the cymes, usually in pairs, loosely 3-parted, their peduncles up to 4.5 cm. long, hexagonal, densely hirtellous, the hairs straight, spreading, up to 0.25 mm. long, some of them gland-tipped; bracts subtending the cymes narrowly triangular, acuminate, carinate, about 2 mm. long and 0.5 mm. wide at base, glabrous or sparingly hirtellous; peduncles of the cymules unequal, the middle one up to 8 mm. long, the lateral ones about half as long, all subhexagonal, densely hirtellous with a mixture of glandular and eglandular straight spreading hairs up to 0.25 mm. long; outer bract subtending the cymule triangular-ovate, 7 mm. long, 3 mm. wide at base, acute (the costa prominent), carinate, both surfaces rather densely hirtellous, the hairs straight, erect, up to 0.25 mm. long; smaller outer bract subtending the cymule lanceolate, 6 mm. long, 2 mm. wide at about 2 mm. above base, acuminate (the tip often recurved), the costa prominent, both surfaces of the bract hirtellous with a mixture of glandless and erect straight glandular hairs about 0.25 mm. long, both the outer bracts green except their white basal margins; innermost bracts narrowly lanceolate, 5.5 mm. long, 1 mm. wide near base, green with whitish margins, acuminate, puberulous with a mixture of sharp and bluntish hairs up to 0.2 mm. long; calyx 5 mm. long, puberulous with stoutish hairs rarely more than 125μ long, the segments of the calyx narrowly triangular, 3 mm. long, 0.75 mm. wide at base, acuminate, whitish; ovary minutely hirtellous; corolla about 12 mm. long, hirtellous, the hairs spreading, about 0.2 mm. long, the tube narrow, about 2 mm. broad at mouth, the lips subequal, about 4 mm. long, the lobes of the lower lip suborbicular about 0.75 mm. long and broad, obtusish; capsules not seen.
Type in the Herbario Nacional Colombiano, collected in the De- partment of Cauca, 1,000 meters altitude, February 1853, by J. Triana (No. 4093.1-1). Isotype: K.
When compared with other Colombian species of the genus, Dicliptera trianae is strikingly distinct in the character of its in- florescence. The color of the corolla was not apparent in the dried material of the type.