Macleania coccoloboides

This is an evergreen shrub in a large group of genera known as “neotropical blueberries”. The genus Macleania is in the Ericaceae (along with blueberries, rhododendrons, heathers, etc.) and they grow as epiphytes in the Andean cloud forests of South America. This species, native to Ecuador, features masses of “agapetes-like” red tubular flowers with white on the ends of the tubes. Large and glossy, rounded evergreen foliage. This is best treated in cultivation like an Agapetes or vireya Rhododendron.