''Cuphea oreophila'' also known as the sacred flower of the Andes is a ''

Lythraceae Lythraceae is a family of flowering plants, including 32 genera, with about 620 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees. The larger genera include ''Cuphea'' (275 spp.), ''Lagerstroemia'' (56), ''Nesaea'' (50), ''Rotala'' (45), and ''Lythrum'' (35). ...

'' perennial plant that grows into a small bush. Native to Guatemala and the Mexican state of

Chiapas Chiapas (; Tzotzil language, Tzotzil and Tzeltal language, Tzeltal: ''Chyapas'' ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Chiapas), is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, ...

, it was first described by TS Brandegee and

Rimo Bacigalupi Rimo Bacigalupi (1901–1996), known as "Bach",The nickname "Bach" was pronounced as English "Batch", the first syllable of "Bacigalupi". was an American botanist and taxonomist, an expert in the flora of California. He was the first curator of ...

in 1933.

Description

''Cuphea oreophila'' has strongly veined lime-green leaves long and wide and narrow bright red trumpet-shaped flowers long.Martin Grantham
"Cupheas at Strybing Arboretum"
''Pacific Horticulture'', October 2002.Cuphea orophila
Annie's Annuals and Perennials, retrieved 2019-01-01. It grows to a maximum height of in the wild but usually tall and wide in cultivation. It has unusually large leaflike appendages.Shirley A. Graham
"New Species of Cuphea Section Melvilla (Lythraceae) and an Annotated Key to the Section"
''Brittonia'' 42.1 (January–March 1990) 12-32, p. 26. The species is native to montane forests in Chiapas near its border with Oaxaca, at elevations of between , and in 1982 was also collected in Guatemala.

References

oreophila {{Myrtales-stub