Combretum rotundifolium

Native to tropical South America, this plant is a woody climber that can reach about fifty feet long, sometimes growing as a shrub or small tree. Its opposite, oval to elliptical leaves have pointed tips and reddish to golden scales, especially on the undersides. Dense flower clusters grow at branch tips or in the leaf axils. Each flower has four small petals and eight long, projecting stamens. The stamens change from yellow-orange to orange-red as the flowers mature, above reddish, swollen flower tubes. The fruits have four broad wings. In southeastern Brazil, hummingbirds, butterflies, bees and bananaquits visit the flowers. Photographed in Ecuador.