Sore-mouth bush

Palicourea tomentosa, many synonyms, including Psychotria poeppigiana, is a plant species in the family Rubiaceae. A common name is sore-mouth bush, though it is not very often used.

It ranges widely in the tropical Americas, from Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Veracruz in Mexico to the very north of Argentina. It does not occur on the Pacific side of the American Cordillera however, and is thus absent from El Salvador and Chile. It is probably also absent from Uruguay and Paraguay.

Palicourea tomentosa is a large shrub. The inflorescences are carried upright or semi-erect and are surrounded by large bracts, colored a conspicuous red, that attract pollinators. The flowers themselves are inconspicuous, with the small yellow petals and sepals forming a narrow corollar tube. Pollinators are mainly hummingbirds, namely small hermit (Phaethornithinae) species like the black-throated hermit (Phaethornis atrimentalis), straight-billed hermit (P. bourcieri) and reddish hermit (P. ruber).

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