Glossoloma ichthyoderma

Native from Costa Rica through Panama and the northern Andes to central Peru, it is an upright herb or subshrub of shaded foothill and mountain forests. Its stems can reach about six and a half feet tall. Their outer surface peels in small flakes resembling fish scales, the feature behind the species name. Dense clusters of hanging tubular flowers grow at the leaf axils, surrounded by hairy calyx lobes. The corollas may be yellow, red or both, with swollen tubes narrowing at their round openings. Fleshy capsules contain numerous seeds. Photographed in the department of Cauca, Colombia.