Aphelandra neesiana D. C. Wassh.

Aphelandra neesiana Wasshausen

Stenandrium aurantiacum Nees in Martius, Flor. Bras. 9:78. 1847. [non Aphelandra aurantiaca (Scheidweiler) Lindley].

Lagochilium aurantiacum Nees in de Candolle, Prodr. 11:292. 1847.

Erect, low shrubby plant 12–30 cm high; stem 4–10 cm long, densely yellowish hirsute, especially towards the tip, leaf blades ovate, 8–12 cm long, 4–6.5 cm wide, acute, obtuse at base, thin, repand, the margins ciliate, the upper surface moderately strigose except the costa and lateral veins (7–9 pairs), these yellowish hirsute, the lower surface drying a lighter green than the upper, moderately strigose, except the costa and lateral veins, these hirsute; petioles 1–3.5 cm long, the pubescence similar to that of the stem; flowers borne on a solitary, terminal spike, 5–10 cm long, 2.5 cm wide (without corollas), the peduncle extremely short, almost absent, less than 0.5 cm long, if present, densely yellowish hirsute, the bracts closely imbricate, spreading with age, the spike subtended by a pair of larger leaves; bracts obovate, 17–19 mm long, 14 mm wide just below the apex, purplish, reticulately veined, obtuse, mucronulate, cuneate at base, moderately pilose both within and without, the margins spinulose-serrate toward apex with about 7–9 pairs of spreading teeth, ciliolate; bractlets lanceolate, 12 mm long, 0.5 mm wide, aristate, subhyaline, striate-nerved, carinate, puberulous and sparingly pilose; calyx 1.3–1.4 cm long, the segments lanceolate, subequal, striate-nerved, inconspicuously puberulous, aristate-acuminate, the posterior segment 2 mm wide near base, the anterior pair 1.5 mm wide, the lateral pair 1 mm wide; corolla yellow, about 2.2 cm long, minutely and sparingly glandular pilose, the tube cylindric, 11 mm long, 2 mm wide at base, thence gradually enlarged and infundibular, 4 mm long, 5 mm in diameter at mouth, the upper lip erect, obovate, 7 mm long and 7 mm wide, bifid, the lobes 2 mm long and 3 mm wide, retuse, the lower lip 3-lobed, the lobes subequal, the middle lobe obovate, 6 mm long, 6 mm wide, obtuse, the lateral lobes ovate, 6 mm long, 6 mm wide, slightly retuse; anthers 3 mm long, apiculate, apically and dorsally hirsute; filaments epipetalous, moderately villous; capsule oblong, 12 mm long, brown, apiculate, nitid, glabrous; seeds flattened, brown, 2 mm in diameter, fibrillose-papillose.

TYPE.—Riedel s.n. (syntype BR), Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Petrópolis, Serra d’Estrella, Feb and Mar 1840.

DISTRIBUTION.—In the mountains around Rio de Janeiro. BRAZIL. RÍO DE JANEIRO; 1821, Langsdorff s.n. (P); Mandiocca, 1813–29, Langsdorff s.n. (LE); Dec 1822–Jan 1823, Riedel 55 (syntype LE); Macahé, Jun 1832, Riedel & Luschnath 793 (syntype LE); Riedel & Langsdorff 109 (LE); 1816–1821, voyage d’Auguste de Saint-Hilaire s.n. (P); Raddi s.n. (FI).

Aphelandra neesiana là một loài thực vật có hoa trong họ Ô rô. Loài này được Wassh. mô tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1975.