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Hot Lips

Psychotria sp.

Photo by pamsai
Published on Project Noah
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10.5425, -83.5029

Field Notes

Description:

I saw varieties of this flower in several places in Costa Rica, always in a wild place.It had this bright turquoise berries in the center which made the plant visable from quite a distance.

These were seen in Tortuguero.

Notes:

It has a number of applications in traditional medicine. It is used as a painkiller, and can also be used to treat headaches, sprains, rheumatism, respiratory tract infections, muscular pains and bruises, whooping cough, and earaches.
It also contains dimethyltryptamine, though as suggested by the use native peoples make of it probably not in quantities to render it strongly psychedelic.
p.s. Andres has a gorgeous photo here with many bright blue fruit.
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/79226179

Reference Links:

Salvia microphylla

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (11)
UrsulaGelchsheimer
there is a tiny bit of the stem to see, so I would say P. poeppigiana - you should always take pictures of the leaves too, it helps a lot with ID of tropical plants
pamsai
thanks Ursula. So which one do you think this is?
pamsai
thought it better to be on the safe side, and i feel comfortable following your lead, so to say. Thanks for everything bayucca.
bayucca
My comment had not the intention that you change your ID, I was just not sure which one it is and unfortunately the web is not very reliable with a trustable ID. With Psychotria sp. your are anyway and definitely on the safe side...
pamsai
thanks bayucca. Changed the scientific name. Some of those links are gorgeous. It is such a bright, colourful, unusual flower.
bayucca
There are many different Psychotria sp. around. I am not sure if it is really Elata or Poeppigiana. I did not find a trustable site for an ID. http://gardenbreizh.org/photos/parochetus/photo-551495.html http://www.f1online.de/de/bild-details/7055111.html http://mardenpix.smugmug.com/Flowers/Flowers-in-nature/i-86FzxPN/A http://www.planetstillalive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Psychotria-1-1024x768.jpg http://www.planetstillalive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Costa-Rica-flowers-0-9-1024x768.jpg http://istvandesign.com/costarica/h5B86EB4E#h5b86eb4e
pamsai
Ah yes Anne that might be. The foliage did look similar. Thank you...
Anne Marie McCaffrey
Isn't this the "hot lips" plant in it's fruit stage? Also known as "beso de novia", or sometimes as "beso" of something less polite :)

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Flowers of South America
Mission
Paso Pacifico Survey
Mission
Fruiting Bodies of the World
Mission
Life in Costa Rica
Photographed
PublishedNovember 25, 2013

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