Columnea billbergiana

Native to Panama, it is a small epiphytic shrub of moist and wet tropical forests, often growing high in trees with its branches hanging downward. Its slender, branching stems are brown. The opposite leaves are nearly equal in size, about an inch long, thick, smooth above, and paler beneath with short bristles. Solitary red flowers have slender tubes about two to three inches long, with sparse stiff hairs on the outer surface. The upper lip forms a hood, while the lower lip bends downward; four stamens project beyond the petals. It flowers lightly throughout the year, especially during the rainy season. Rounded white berries contain yellow seeds embedded in pulp. Photographed in Panama.