Rhynchanthera mexicana

Rhynchanthera mexicana is a shrub in the Melastomataceae family, native to Mexico, Costa Rica and Colombia. Stems, leaf stalks and flower clusters bear glandular or simple hairs. Its pointed leaves have several prominent veins. Branched flower clusters develop at the twig tips. Purple flowers have five similarly sized fertile stamens with pale-yellow, beaked anthers and additional reduced sterile stamens. It grows in savannas. Photographed in the western Andes mountain range of Colombia.