Suffrutescent herbs up to 1 meter high; stems subquadrangular. glabrous; leaf blades oblong-elliptic, up to 24 em. long and 8.5 cm. wide, rather abruptly acuminate, the tip itself blunt, gradually nar- rowed from about the middle to base and decurrent on the petiole. undulate, glabrous, minutely alveolate, the alveoli more apparent on the under surface, the costa and veins (12 to 14 pairs) obscure above, prominent beneath; petioles (unwinged portion) about 1 em. long, glabrous; spikes solitary, terminal, up to 16 em. Jong, and 1.5 em. broad, the bracts rather closely appressed, the rachis glabrous; pe- duncles 0.5 em. long, 4 mm. in diameter; bracts elliptic, up to 22 mm. long and 10 mm. wide, acute, thin, veiny, glabrous, the margins mi- nutely and distantly toothed, the teeth up to 0.25 mm. long; bractlets subulate, 6.5 mm. long, 1 mm. wide near base, carinate, veiny, bearing scattered, minute, papilliform hairs 25 » long; calyx 9 mm. long, the segments lanceolate, the posterior segment about 4 mm. wide, tipped by 3 subulate lobes 1 to 1.5 mm. long, the other segments 1.5 to 2 mm. wide, gradually narrowed to slender spinelike tips, glabrous, ciliolate with minute gland-tipped hairs about 25 » long, the nerves of each segment ending basally in a thick callus; corolla glabrous, red distally, yellow- ish proximally, 6 cm. long, the tube about 4 mm. broad at base, gradu- ally enlarged to 7 mm. at mouth, the lips equal, 2 cm. long, the upper lip erect, ovate, about 14 mm. wide, obtusish at apex, the lower lip 3-lobed, the middle lobe about 1 em. wide, the lateral lobes about 6 mm. wide, all acutish at apex; stamens 16 mm. long, the filaments dorsally pilose apically, the anthers 5 mm. long, cohering at their tips. the hairs about 0.75 min. long; capsules not seen.
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1852615, collected in woods at La Laguna on the left bank of the Río Sanguininí, Depart- ment of El Valle, Colombia, 1,250 to 1,400 meters altitude, December 10-20, 1943, by J. Cuatrecasas (No. 15436). In relationship, Aphelandra leiophylla is closest to A. aurantiaca. In comparing the two species, however, one will notice the strictly glabrous bracts and the thicker, alveolate leaf blades of A. leiophylla. The corollas of the two species are also noticeably dissimilar. The corolla lips of A. aurantiaca are usually much larger than those of A. leiophylla and the lateral lobes of the lower lip are relatively much smaller than the middle one. In A. leiophylla the lobes of the lower lip are similar in size. The name leiophylla,deios, smooth, and púλλor, leaf, alludes to the glabrous leaf blades. Accompanying the type sheet is the following description by Cua- trecasas, drawn, evidently, from living material: "Hierba robusta de 60 cm. alt.; hoja verde obscura en el haz, claro en el enves; corolla roja, tubo amarillento."