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Wigandia urens
Wigandia urens, synonyms including Wigandia caracasana, known as fiberglass plant and the Caracus wigandia, is a plant in the family Namaceae.
Wigandia urens is native from Mexico south through Central America and northern South America to Trinidad and Peru. In particular it is found in Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, much of Mexico, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Trinidad-Tobago, and Venezuela. In Mexico, it is distributed in Sinaloa, Durango, Nayarit, Zacatecas, Jalisco, Colima, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, San Luis Potosí, Michoacán, Querétaro, Hidalgo, State of Mexico, Mexico City, Tlaxcala, Morelos, Guerrero, Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Chiapas. In its native habitat, it can be found in pine-oak forests, cloud forests, low deciduous forest and xerophilous scrubland at altitudes from 20 to 3,000 m (70 to 9,840 ft) above sea level.
It is often used for ornamental purposes, as well as ceremonial and religious purposes. It is also used as a folk remedy to treat syphilis, rheumatism, and insomnia.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Wigandia urens by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
