Creeping or scandent terrestrial or epiphytic shrublet with elongated branches to 2 m long and bearing rootlets;  stem thin, terete, glabrous or glabrate;  twigs subterete, densely, scurfy short-pilose to laxly pubescent or glabrous.  Leaves thin chartaceous, flat or weakly bullate, oblong to elliptic-lanceolate, 13-25.5(-31) x 4.5-6(-11) cm, base broadly cuneate or subrotund, apex somewhat falcate, the apex itself acute, margin entire, essentially glabrous but sometimes midrib laxly pilose above or beneath, or all nerves denselly short-pilose beneath;  pinnately nerved with ca. 7-8 lateral nerves per side, midrib slightly raised above and strongly prominent beneath, lateral nerves arising from the midrib nearly at right angles, arching upwards, prominent above and beneath, reticulate veinlets laxly raised beneath;  petiole thick, ca. 3-7 mm long, densely puberulent when young, sometimes strigose, glabrate.  Inflorescence axillary, often on older wood in axils of fallen leaves, racemose, (1-)2-5-flowered;  rachis thin, 0.7-3.5 cm long, glabrous or densely short-pilose;  floral bract oblong to ovate, rounded to acute, ca. 1-1.5 mm long;  pedicel 12-20 mm long, glabrous or moderately short-pilose, often distally with a few glandular fimbriae;  bracteoles basal to medial, ovate, acuminate, less than 1 mm long, bearing a few scattered glandular hairs.  Flowers with calyx 4-7 mm long, bright orange to reddish-orange;  hypanthium semiglobose, 2.5-5 mm long, glabrous or short-pilose, contracted at limb, bearing a few, scattered glandular hairs;  limb erect-campanulate, ca. 1.5-2 mm long;  lobes deltate-acuminate, or ovate-apiculate, ca. 1-2 mm long;  sinuses obtuse;  corolla tubular, slightly inflated at base, 8-11 mm long and 4-5 mm diam., glabrous, white at extreme base turning red to dark wine-red in lower half then pale green in upper quarter, the limb white, the lobes spreading, reflexed, deltate, ca. 2 mm long, white;  stamen  ca. 6-7 mm long;  filaments distinct, ca. 2.5-3 mm long, glabrous or pilose, the connectives lacking spurs or alternately slightly thickened distally (or shouldered);  anthers ca. 5 mm long;  thecae granular, ca. 2.5-3 mm long;  tubules distinct, ca. 1.5-2 mm long, dehiscing by clefts ca. 1.5 mm long.  Berry not seen.

    Distribution.  Southern Colombia to central Ecuador.
 

 Key to Varieties of Psammisia debilis

1.  Rachis ca. 0.7-1 cm long, usually glabrous;  inflorescence (1-)2-3
    (-5)-flowered;  leaves glabrous beneath, flat, the nerves not
    conspicuously impressed above, the lamina not bullate .....  var. debilis
1.  Rachis 2-3.5 cm long, densely short-pilose;  inflorescence 4-5-
    flowered;  leaves short pilose along nerves beneath, weakly bullate,
    the nerves conspicuously impressed above .............  var. ecuadorensis
 

Psammisia debilis Sleumer var. debilis.  Type.  Colombia.  Cauca:  El Tambo, La Costa, 1300-1600 m, Jul 1936 (fl), von Sneidern 914 (holotype, S, photo NY neg. 9678).  Image:  Habit.

    Twigs usually glabrous, rarely puberulent;  stem usually glabrous or glabrate.  Leaves with lamina flat not bullate, midrib sometimes laxly pilose above and beneath, otherwise glabrous beneath, the nerves not conspicuously impressed above;  petiole usually glabrous, sometimes puberulent.  Inflorescence short-racemose (1-)2-3(-5)-flowered;  rachis 0.7-1 cm long, usually glabrous or rarely short-pilose.

    Distribution.  Colombia and Ecuador;  premontane rainforest to montane cloud forest, at 280-2000 m altitude.  Infrequent.
 
 

Psammisia debilis Sleumer var. ecuadorensis Luteyn, Fl. Ecuador 54: 187.  1996.  Type.  Ecuador.  Carchi:  Tulcán-Maldonado rd, 61-75 km W of Tulcán, 2160-2560 m, 6 Nov 1992 (fl), Luteyn & Sylva S. 14760 (holotype, NY (2 sheets); isotypes, AAU, CAS, COL, GB, K, MEXU, MO, P, QCA, TEX, US, W).  Images:  Habit.  Flowers.

    Twigs densely, scurfy short-pilose;  stem usually persistently short-pilose or glabrate.  Leaves with lamina weakly bullate, short-pilose along midrib above and all nerves beneath, the nerves conspicuously impressed above;  petiole usually puberulent to short-pilose.  Inflorescence conspicuously racemose, 4-5-flowered;  rachis 2-3.5 cm long, densely short-pilose.

    Distribution.  Endemic to Ecuador;  premontane to montane cloud forest, at 1890-2700 m altitude.  Rare and endangered.