Rhytidophyllum
(from rhytis, rhytidos, a wrinkle, and phyllon, a leaf; alluding to the rugose leaves). ORD. Gesneraceae. A genus comprising about ten species of villous or white-woolly, rarely almost glabrous, stove shrubs or small trees, natives of the West Indies and Columbia. Flowers often softly villous or woolly; calyx tube adnate, turbinate, or nearly hemispherical; corolla usually greenish outside, variously coloured within; tube incurved, enlarged above; limb of short, broad, erecto-patent lobes; peduncles axillary, elongated, cymosely many-flowered. Leaves alternate, shortly petiolate, often elongated, entire or crenate, softly rugose or scabrous, sometimes very scabrous and woolly beneath. Only two species have been introduced. For culture, see Gesnera.
R. auriculatum (eared). fl. greenish, red-spotted within; corolla sub-campanulate, hairy; peduncles almost equalling the leaves, glandular-tomentose. August. l. sessile, narrowed at base and auriculate, dilated and semi-amplexicaul, serrated, tomentose-scabrous above, slightly hoary beneath. h. 1ft. Brazil, 1824. (B. M. 3562.) R. tomentosum (tomentose). fl., corolla greenish-yellow, variegated with purple spots, or purple, 3/4in. long, scabrous-tomentose; peduncles equalling or exceeding the leaves. Summer. l. lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 4in. to 8in. long, acuminate, serrate, scabrous above, villous beneath. h. 2ft. to 3ft. West Indies. (B. M. 1023, under name of Gesneria tomentosa).