Hoffmannia phoenicopoda K. Schum.

Hoffmannia phoenicopoda K. Schumann, Notizbl. Bot. Gart Berlin 2: 276. 1899. Herbaceous, 2—5 dm. high, the stems simple, stout, subangulate, sparsely villous or glabrous, the internodes short; stipules ovate-deltoid, 4 mm. long, obtuse or acutish, green, succulent, persistent ; leaves opposite, sessile, obovate or obovate-oblong, 9-25 cm. long, 3.8-1 1 <tn wide, long attenuate to the rounded or slightly clasping base, acute or broadly shortacuminate at the apex, succulent, somewhat bullate, dark-green above, glabrous or thinly villous, the venation plane, reddish beneath, puberulent >r villosulous along the veins, these very prominent, reticulate, the lateral nerves 18-20 on each side, arcuate-divaricate, the margin villous-ciliate; inflorescence densely cymose, few-flowered, the flowers sessile or subsessile. the peduncles slender, 2-8 cm. long, rufous-villous, the bracts minute; hypanthium turbinate, 2 mm. long, glabrous, the calyx-lobes triangular, 1.5-2 mm. long, acute, red, sparsely villous; corolla bright-red, 9-12 mm. long, sparsely villous outside, the lobes lance-oblong, twice as long as the tube or longer; anthers 5 mm. long.
Type locality: Described from cultivated plants of unknown origin. Distribution: Guatemala, in wet forest at low elevations.