Shrubs up to 3 meters high; stems glabrous; leaf blades oblong or oblong-ovate, up to 35 cm. long and 18 cm. wide, short-acuminate at apex (the tip itself blunt), narrowed at base and decurrent on the petiole, glabrous or the costa and lateral veins (usually about 15 to 20 pairs) bearing a few small appressed hairs, the margin entire, undulate or shallowly crenate; petioles slender, up to 10 cm. long, glabrous; spikes stout, one or several, in fascicles, terminal, sessile, up to 30 cm. long and about 2 cm. broad; bracts ovate, up to 25 mm. long and 12 mm. wide, rounded, pubescent to glabrate, often silky toward base, the hairs up to 0.75 mm. long, appressed, the ocelli numerous (about 20), elliptic, minute (about 400 μ long and 250 μ wide); bract- lets lanceolate, 11 mm. long, 3 mm. wide near base, obliquely carinate, densely pubescent, the hairs silky, appressed; calyx segments tri- angular, subequal, 12 or 13 mm. long, the posterior segment 7 mm. wide near base, the anterior pair 4 mm. wide, the middle pair 3 mm. wide, all acute, striate-nerved, densely pubescent with silky appressed hairs except the subglabrous and subhyaline margins; corolla yellow, finely pubescent, 5.5 to 6 cm. long, 6 mm. broad at throat, the upper lip oblong, about 15 mm. long and 9 mm. wide, 2-lobed, the lobes triangular, about 6 mm. long and 5 mm. wide, acuminate, the lower lip 3-lobed, the middle lobe lanceolate, about as long as the upper lip, acute, the lateral lobes small, about 2.5 mm. long and 1 mm. wide, obtuse, their upper margins partly connate with the upper lip; capsules oblong, 13 mm. long, 7 mm, broad, blunt at tip, nitid and glabrous toward tip, dull and minutely and densely punctate towards base; mature seed not seen.
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1543966, collected at Albán, Department of Cundinamarca, Colombia, 1,699 meters alti- tude, in 1932, by B. Guevara-Amórtegui (No. 260). Ariste-Joseph's No. 1081 (GH, Ph, US), collected at Paime, Cundinamarca, and Haught's No. 1936 (US), collected in rich alluvial valley soil near Caimona Creek, Santander, 200 meters altitude, July 20, 1936, are also of this species.
The exceedingly large bracts and yellow corollas serve to distin- guish Aphelandra grandis from among the numerous relatives of A. pulcherrima. Grandis (large) alludes to the size attained by the plant, its relatively large leaf blades, spikes, and flower bracts.