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Columnea consanguinea
Blood of Christ is an epiphytic, shrub-like Gesneriad from Central and northwestern South America, grown for its striking leaves with translucent red heart-shaped markings. It needs warm, humid, bright conditions and filtered light, much like other Columnea species.
Columnea consanguinea is a species of flowering plants in the genus Columnea. They are endemic to Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Panama. They are distinctive for possessing red translucent heart-shaped markings on their leaves that serve to attract their main pollinators - the hummingbird Heliodoxa jacula - to their more inconspicuous flowers.
The species was first described by Johannes von Hanstein in 1865. It is classified under the family Gesneriaceae.
Columnea consanguinea have relatively small and drab flowers. In order to attract their main pollinators, the nectarivorous green-crowned brilliant (Heliodoxa jacula), they instead use the markings on their leaves. Sunlight filtering through the translucent patches on their leaves give them a brilliant red color, reminiscent of stained-glass windows. Hummingbirds, like all birds, possess excellent color vision greater than that of humans. They are attracted to the red color of the markings and can then find their way to the flowers to feed. In doing so, they pollinate the flowers of C. consanguinea.
Tibey de cresta · Columnea crassifolia · Hispaniolan Goldfish Plant · Columnea flexiflora · Columnea florida · Columnea glabra · Goldfish Plant Or Orange Columnea · Columnea hirta · Columnea linearis · Goldfish Plant Or Orange Columnea · Columnea microphylla · Columnea minor
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Columnea consanguinea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
