Fuchsia ampliata

Native to southern Colombia and Ecuador, this upright or scrambling shrub grows in high Andean cloud forest, along streams and on slopes. Young branches bear conspicuous pale hairs. Its narrow leaves usually occur in whorls of three. Pendant flowers have long, widening scarlet to orange-red tubes, backward-curving sepals and rounded red petals. The flowers develop into ellipsoid berries that turn red when ripe. Natural hybridization with Fuchsia vulcanica has been documented. Photographed in Ecuador.