Aphelandra cuscoensis D. C. Wassh.

Aphelandra cuscoensis Wasshausen

Aphelandra cuscoensis Wasshausen, Phytologia 25;469. 1973.

Suffrutescent shrub about 1 m high; stems glabrous below, the upper portions sparingly sericeous, the hairs spreading, about 2 mm long; leaf blades elliptic, 30 cm long and 9.5 cm wide, acuminate, narrowed from middle or slightly below middle to a long-attenuate base, serrate, the veins terminating in sharp spines, 3–4 mm long, the upper surface sparingly strigose, the hairs about 1.5 mm long, the lower surface rather densely strigose, the hairs whitish, 1.5 mm long, subappressed, those of the costa and veins (about 18 pairs) spreading horizontally, the venation not very prominent but more so beneath than above; petioles about 5 mm long, strigose, the hairs spreading; spikes solitary, terminal, 12 cm long and 4 cm broad, moderately dense, the peduncle about 1.5 cm long, strigose, the rachis densely sericeous; bracts red, elliptic, about 35 mm long and 15 mm wide, acute, subchartaceous, conspicuously sericeous without, the margins spinose-toothed, the teeth (about 10 pairs) produced by the continuation of the lateral veins, successively larger and more spinose toward apex, the spines ascending, 3–4 mm long; bractlets lanceolate, 3.2 cm long, 4 mm wide, aristate, carinate, the keel puberulous and sericeous, subhyaline, striate-nerved; calyx segments oblong-lanceolate, the posterior segment 2.8 cm long and 3.5 mm wide, the anterior pair 2.6 cm long and 3 mm wide, the lateral pair 2 cm long and 2 mm wide, all longacuminate at apex, glabrous, striate-nerved, subhyaline, the margins ciliolate; corolla (immature) about 3.5 cm long, red, densely sericeous at tip, the hairs yellowish.

TYPE.—C. Vargas 15415 (holotype US), Peru, Cusco, Quispicanchi, 520 m alt, 14 May 1964.

DISTRIBUTION.—Known only from the typelocality.

Aphelandra cuscoensis may be allied to A. rubra Wasshausen, which differs in its smaller (20 mm long), ovate, and acuminate bracts.

Aphelandra cuscoensis là một loài thực vật có hoa trong họ Ô rô. Loài này được Wassh. mô tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1973.