Miconia versicolor

Native to Colombia, Ecuador and the Mérida region of Venezuela, this shrub or small tree can reach about 20 feet tall and grows in Andean subpáramo vegetation. Its leaves have smooth upper surfaces and hairy, brown-yellow undersides. The branched flower clusters carry white, five-petaled flowers with yellow anthers. Among the Pastos community of La Ortiga in Nariño, it is called amarillo. Its bark has been used with bejuco colorado to dye sheep’s wool yellow, and its stems have served as pillars in traditional bahareque houses. Photographed in the eastern Andes mountain range of Colombia.