Justicia filibracteolata

Native to Colombia, Venezuela and Peru, this perennial herb or subshrub grows to about three feet tall in wet tropical vegetation. Its stems stand erect or ascend from a leaning base, with fine hairs often arranged in two lines. The flowers range from pink and lilac to purple and violet and form dense clusters surrounded by slender bracts. Each flower has a narrow upper lip and a broad, pouch-like lower lip with three rounded lobes and transverse folds. Short, club-shaped capsules contain four flattened seeds. Photographed in the department of North Santander, Colombia.