Name: Columnea crassifolia Brongn.
Synonyms: Columnea crassifolia Hort. ex Hook.; Columnea muenscheri Standl.; Columnea stenophylla Standl.
Etymology: crassifolia = thick-leaved — derived from the Latin words crassus (thick) and folium (leaf) and describes the fleshy structure of the foliage.

First description: 1844 by the French botanist Adolphe Théodore Brongniart in the Horticulteur Universel (5: 356).
Origin / Distribution: Southeast Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras.
Location / Habitat:
Epiphytic, growing in moist tropical montane forests and premontane rainforests. It usually settles there in the partial shade to bright area on branches and tree trunks, where it is surrounded by warm to temperate, year-round moist air.
Description & Notes:
Columnea crassifolia is a robust, shrubby to trailing epiphyte from the family of gesneriads (Gesneriaceae). Unlike many purely hanging congeners, this species has relatively rigid, upright to arching stems. The leaves are narrow-lanceolate, dark green, and strikingly thick and fleshy (succulent). The tubular flowers are large, bright scarlet to orange-red, and have a fine pubescence. Their distinctive lip shape is evolutionarily perfectly adapted for pollination by hummingbirds.

In cultivation, the plant needs a bright to partial shade location without harsh midday sun as well as a very loose, airy substrate (e.g., a fine bark-moss mix), which may dry out slightly between waterings. Consistently high humidity and year-round warm to intermediate temperatures promote growth and abundant blooming.