taxonID	type	description	language	source
C299E871ADDB5F58AF2441ACA9E54275.taxon	description	Fig. 1	en	Clark, John L., Ballesteros, Sofía, Clavijo, Laura (2025): Columnea rubromarginata (Gesneriaceae), a new species from the western Andean slopes of Colombia and Ecuador. PhytoKeys 268: 201-210, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.268.174855
C299E871ADDB5F58AF2441ACA9E54275.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis. Vegetatively similar to Columnea purpurimarginata L. P. Kvist & L. E. Skog by the conspicuous, broad submarginal dark red band on the undersurface of the blades, but C. rubromarginata differs in having a red corolla tube with a yellow limb (vs. yellow corolla tube with white limb and red striations in C. purpurimarginata) and linear calyx lobes nearly equaling the corolla tube (vs. broadly ovate, short calyx lobes covering only the base of the corolla tube).	en	Clark, John L., Ballesteros, Sofía, Clavijo, Laura (2025): Columnea rubromarginata (Gesneriaceae), a new species from the western Andean slopes of Colombia and Ecuador. PhytoKeys 268: 201-210, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.268.174855
C299E871ADDB5F58AF2441ACA9E54275.taxon	description	Description. Epiphytic or climbing herb to subshrub. Stem scandent, branched, terete in cross-section, 3.0 – 6.5 mm diam., herbaceous to subwoody, green to yellow green, sparsely pilose at the base and densely pilose toward the apex, trichomes white, 2.0 – 3.0 mm long; internodes 1.5 – 3.2 cm long. Leaves opposite and anisophyllous; petiole of the larger leaf 0.3 – 0.7 cm long, terete, strigose, with multicellular, white trichomes, 2.0 – 3.0 mm long, becoming slightly hirsute when dry; larger blade oblanceolate, 13.5 – 27.0 × 3.5 – 7.6 cm, coriaceous, green adaxially, green abaxially with a dark red marginal band 2.0 – 7.3 mm wide, apex acuminate, dark red abaxially, base oblique and rounded, margin sparsely serrate, sparsely to densely pilose on upper and lower surfaces with multicellular, branched, whitish trichomes, margin and the apex with dark red trichomes, blades with 8 – 13 pairs of secondary veins; smaller blade sessile linear to lanceolate, 1.7 – 2.0 × 0.8 – 0.9 cm, 2 – 3 pairs of main lateral veins, often caducous. Inflorescence reduced to 1 – 3 axillary single axillary flowers; peduncles absent; bracts 7.5 – 10.0 × 1.0 – 1.7 mm, green with red apex, lanceolate, apex acuminate, base truncate, margin entire, both surfaces with multicellular, branched, whitish trichomes; pedicel erect 18 – 40 mm long, green, pilose, with multicellular, branched, transparent trichomes. Calyx lobes 5, fused basally for 1.9 – 2.5 mm, equal in length, mostly red on outer surface and green on inner surface, sometimes with the base green on outer and inner surfaces, 27.0 – 31.4 × 2.0 – 2.9 mm, persistent in fruit, secondary venation suppressed, linear, apex attenuate, base truncate, margin entire for basal half, with 4 – 8 teeth per side along the apical half, pilose on upper and lower surfaces with multicellular, branched, whitish trichomes. Corolla tubular, 34.0 – 39.0 mm long; tube erect relative to calyx, 6.3 – 6.5 mm wide at the middle, dark red and densely pilose with white branched trichomes, nectary chamber 4.0 – 7.0 × 3.0 – 5.0 mm, tube narrowed above the nectary chamber, throat 4.3 – 5.2 mm diam., limb yellow on inside and red with yellow margins on outside, corolla with 5 equal-sized lobes, 2.4 – 4.5 × 2.0 – 4.0 mm, straight, elliptic, apex rounded, margin entire, densely pilose abaxially, with white multicellular trichomes. Androecium of 4 didynamous stamens, filaments 23.0 – 32.0 mm long, adnate to the corolla tube for 3.5 – 5.5 mm, glabrous, staminode absent; anthers oblong, coherent, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, 2.2 – 2.5 × 2.4 – 2.6 mm. Gynoecium with a single-dorsal lobed nectary gland, ca. 2 mm long, glabrous; ovary superior, ca. 4.9 × 2.6 mm, ovate, sparsely pilose; style included, ca. 27 mm long, glabrous; stigma bilobed. Fruit a globose berry, 7.7 – 15.0 × 6.5 – 10.0 mm, ovoid, green, pilose with translucid trichomes; seeds elongate, fusiform, and brown, <1 mm long.	en	Clark, John L., Ballesteros, Sofía, Clavijo, Laura (2025): Columnea rubromarginata (Gesneriaceae), a new species from the western Andean slopes of Colombia and Ecuador. PhytoKeys 268: 201-210, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.268.174855
C299E871ADDB5F58AF2441ACA9E54275.taxon	etymology	Etymology. The epithet rubromarginata is derived from the Latin ruber (red) and marginatus (bordered or edged), referring to the distinctive dark red submarginal band on the abaxial (underside) surface of the leaves (Fig. 1 B).	en	Clark, John L., Ballesteros, Sofía, Clavijo, Laura (2025): Columnea rubromarginata (Gesneriaceae), a new species from the western Andean slopes of Colombia and Ecuador. PhytoKeys 268: 201-210, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.268.174855
C299E871ADDB5F58AF2441ACA9E54275.taxon	distribution	Distribution and preliminary assessment of conservation status. The geographic distribution of Columnea rubromarginata corresponds to the Chocó Biogeographic Region, an area characterized by relatively high levels of precipitation and epiphytic diversity, between 30 and 950 m in elevation (Gentry 1986; Pérez-Escobar et al. 2019). Columnea rubromarginata is locally abundant in the privately owned and operated Reserva Chococito in the Colombian Chocó Department along the western slopes of the Cordillera Occidental. It has also been documented along roads in the following Colombian localities along the western Andean slopes of the Cordillera Occidental: Chocó (highway Bolívar – Quibdó and Quibdó-Tutunendo) and Valle del Cauca (old highway Buenaventura – Cali). One population was also documented in the environs of Lita in northern Ecuador (Fig. 3). The extent of occurrence (EOO) is calculated as 30,769.253 km 2, corresponding to a Near Threatened status; the area of occupancy (AOO) is calculated as 28 km 2, which is within the threshold for Endangered status under subcriterion B 2. The only known collection from Ecuador dates to 1987, prior to construction of the highway between Lita and Esmeraldas, and it is likely that this population has been extirpated. Fewer than ten collections are known, meeting subcriterion B 2 a for Vulnerable. If the Ecuadorian record is excluded from the GeoCAT analysis, the recalculated EOO is 11,805.300 km 2, corresponding to a status of Vulnerable under criterion B 1, and an AOO of 24 km 2, which falls within the threshold for Endangered under criterion B 2. The species is threatened in Ecuador and Colombia by ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation resulting from deforestation, the expansion of agriculture (especially African palm plantations), mining and illegal logging (especially in Ecuador), and urbanization. These threats were observed by the authors between 1994 and 2022 and have led to a recent decline in the quality and extent of suitable habitat. The preliminary IUCN category is therefore suggested as Vulnerable (VU), based on subcriteria B 1, B 2 a, b (i, ii, iii).	en	Clark, John L., Ballesteros, Sofía, Clavijo, Laura (2025): Columnea rubromarginata (Gesneriaceae), a new species from the western Andean slopes of Colombia and Ecuador. PhytoKeys 268: 201-210, DOI: 10.3897/phytokeys.268.174855
