Lycianthes acutifolia

Native to western South America and Venezuela, this shrub grows about 3 feet tall in wet tropical habitats and Andean forests. Dense, persistent hairs give the stems, leaves and calyces a bristly texture. The leaves occur in unequal pairs. Its white, star-shaped flowers grow from the leaf axils, and the calyx beneath each flower bears ten slender teeth. The fruit is an egg-shaped to conical berry containing flattened seeds. In Colombia, it occurs through the Andes between about 6,550 and 10,500 feet above sea level. Photographed in Cauca Department, Colombia.