Drymonia coccinea

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Drymonia coccinea

Description

Terrestrial or epiphytic shrub, 0.6-2.5 m tall. Stem woody at base, succulent above, sarmentose, puberulous at apex, glabrous and shining. Leaves subequal or unequal in a pair; petiole (0.5-)1-4(-6) cm long, sparsely appressed-pubescent; blade chartaceous when dry, obliquely elliptic to oblong, variable, larger blade (2.7-)8-15(-29) x (1.8-)3-6(-10) cm, margin entire or sometimes obscurely denticulate near apex, apex acuminate, base cuneate to almost decurrent, above sparsely appressed-pubescent to glabrous, below sparsely appressed-pubescent to glabrous. Flowers solitary, or in short-racemose few-10 or more-flowered inflorescences; pedunculate, often with branched axis, each 0.2-6 cm long, sparsely appressed-pubescent; bracts numerous, large, pink, slightly cordate; pedicel 0.1-0.3 cm long, sparsely appressed-pubescent. Calyx colored like bracts, lobes free, subequal, leafy, 1.3-2.5 x 0.6-1.5 cm, margin entire, sinuate, or crenulate, apex obtuse or rounded, outside and inside sparsely appressed-pubescent, 4 erect, dorsal lobe recurved; corolla transversal-oblique in calyx, creamy, yellow or white, 3-4.8 cm long, tube nearly cylindric, 2.8-3.5 cm long, base spurred, 0.4-0.6 cm wide, middle straight to slightly curved, throat slightly contracted, 0.6-1.2 cm wide, outside puberulous to villous, sometimes glabrous at base, inside dorsally with an area of glandular hairs, limb 0.8-2.6 cm wide, lobes subequal, spreading, suborbicular, 0.4-1 x 0.4-1 cm, margin entire or sinuate; stamens included, inserted on corolla base; ovary ovoid, 0.4-0.6 x 0.3-0.5 cm, appressed-pubescent, style 3-3.5 cm long, appressed-pubescent, stigma capitate. Mature capsule hidden by bracts and calyx, yellow (acc. Aublet 1775, p. 632), subglobose, 1.3-1.5 x 0.9-1 cm.

Distribution

Guianas present, Southern America: Bolivia (Bolivia present); Colombia (Colombia present), eastern Venezuela present, northern and central Brazil present
Colombia to Bolivia, eastern Venezuela to the Guianas, northern and central Brazil; > 300 collections studied (GU: 20; SU: 40; FG: > 200).

Common Name

Boni (French Guiana): opaïpanga; English (French Guiana): alalaka'a, crète poule, masakala kulumenay, takaakabesu, waku djemba

Phenology

Collected in flower , in fruit in .

Uses


External febrifuge (Wayãpi).

Notes

Cultivated in several botanical gardens, and in limited cultivation among amateurs in North America.
Photographs: Feuillet & Skog, 2002 (pl. 65 d (unvouchered)); Grenand et al. 1987 (between pp. 256-257).