22. Aphelandra aurantiaca (Schiedw.) Lindl.
Hemisandra aurantiaca Schledw. Bull. Acad. Sci. Bruxelles 9: 22. 1842. Type grown in the Jardin Botanique de Bruxelles in the year 1839 from seeds procured from Mexico. (Aurantiaca: orange colored, alludes to the color of the corollas.)
Aphelandra aurantiaca Lindl. Bot. Reg. 31: pl. 12. 1845. Based on Hemisandra aurantiaca.
Aphelandra acutifolia Nees, DC. Prodr. 11: 299. 1847. A number of cotypes are cited. The first mentioned was collected at Vitoc, Peru, by Ruiz and deposited in the Berlin Herbarium. The remaining cotypes were collected by various botanists in Peru, Mexico, and Surinam.

Herbaceous to suffrutescent, erect, up to 1.5 meters high, glabrous or sparingly pilose, the internodes 2 to 9 cm. long; leaf blades oblong- ovate to elliptic, the majority of them 8 to 20 cm. long and 2.5 to 12 cm. wide, acute to acuminate, gradually to abruptly narrowed at base and more or less decurrent on the petiole, sometimes obliquely so, chartaceous, glabrous or essentially so, sometimes bearing a few minute white hairs on the veins, the margins entire or undulate, the costa and lateral veins (10 to 12 pairs) prominent, arcuate, the upper surface nitid, obscurely and rather coarsely reticulate, minutely alveolate, the lower surface somewhat whitish, the reticulations obscure; petioles up to 10 cm. long, glabrous; flowers borne in simple terminal spikes up to 15 cm. long and 3 cm. wide (excluding the corollas), the rachis puberulous, the nodes flattened and slightly excavate; bracts imbricate, oblong-lanceolate, up to 3 cm. long and 1 cm. wide, acuminate, veiny, softly and densely puberulous, the hairs ascending, the margins cilio- late, serrate, the teeth up to 1.5 mm. long; bractlets narrowly lanceolate and slenderly acuminate; calyx about 1 cm. long, the posterior seg- ment oblong, 3 mm. wide, acute, the lateral and anterior pairs linear- lanceolate, 1.5 mm. wide, the 5 segments and bractlets striate-nerved and puberulous, the nerves ending at the base of each segment in a callus about 1 mm. long; corollas 5 to 6 cm. long, red, orange or scarlet, sparingly puberulous, the upper lip oblong-ovate, about 2 cm. long and 1.2 cm, wide above the base, obtusish and entire at apex, the lower lip spreading, the lobes elliptic-ovate, the middle one up to 2.5 cm. long and 1.8 cm. wide, obtuse, the lateral ones similar but only about half as large; capsules 1.6 cm. long, sparingly puberulous; seeds hispidulous.

Aphelandra aurantiaca is a variable species and perhaps consists of a number of races or forms. The Mexican and Central American specimens in the U. S. National Herbarium have as a rule smaller and more slenderly toothed bracts than do the South American plants. The bracts of some of the North American plants are in fact practi- cally pectinate. Red flowers seem to be more prevalent than yellow or orange ones.
Usually found in dense forests, from Mexico to Bolivia. Apparently rare in Colombia.
AMAZONAS: Loretoyacu River, Trapecio Amazónico, Schultes 6630 (Col). DEPARTMENT (?): Mutis 1494 (US).