Cavendishia bracteata has drooping red-and-cream tubular flowers with yellow-green tips beneath pale bracts

Cavendishia bracteata

Native from southern Mexico to Bolivia, this evergreen shrub in the heath family grows in soil or as an epiphyte on trees. It usually reaches about 3 to 13 feet tall. In Colombia, it occurs between about 3,300 and 12,500 feet. Its leaves have prominent veins, and clusters of tubular flowers are surrounded by colored bracts. Flowers vary from pale pink and white to red, often with yellow-green tips. The small berries are used for food, while the plant also has ornamental value and supplies fuelwood and wooden supports in Colombia. Photographed in Colombia’s eastern and central Andes.

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Cavendishia bracteata bears red flowers with pale flared tips below cream-and-pink bracts, with green buds above

An elongated Cavendishia bracteata cluster has orange-red tubular flowers with green tips beneath pale yellow-green bracts

Two closed red Cavendishia bracteata buds with yellow-green tips hang beneath pale cream bracts

Cavendishia bracteata forms a tall broad shrub dotted with pink flower clusters