Wigandia urens

It is an erect shrubby plant up to 6 meters tall that can develop trichomes and urticating hairs with petioles 2.5 to 10 cm long and oval leaves 5.5 to 50 cm long and 3.5 to 37 cm wide. The flowers develop calyx lobes 4 to 15 mm long, with broadly campanulate corollas whose colors can differ between purple, blue or whitish lilac 1.5 to 2.2 cm long. It has stamens attached to the corollas for a quarter of their length and hairy filaments 1.2 to 1.5 cm long in the lower 3 quarters. It has slightly oblong anthers 3 to 6 mm. There are a variety of associated herbivorous insects, including milpa grasshopper, conspicuous cricket, tree crickets, green peach aphid, Chichicastlera moth, and white-spotted owl moth, among others. == Distribution and habitat ==

Wigandia urens is native from Mexico south through Central America and northern South America to Trinidad and Peru. In particular it is found in olombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, much of Mexico, Nicaragua, Panamá, Peru, Trinidad-Tobago, and Venezuela. == Uses ==

It is often used for ornamental purposes, as well as ceremonial and religious purposes. It is also used as a folk remedy to treat syphilis, rheumatism, and insomnia. == Dermatitis ==

It can cause severe contact dermatitis. A substance that it secretes, 2,3-dimethoxy-geranyl- 1,4-benzoquinone (consisting of a quinonoid ring with a 10 or 11 carbon-membered side chain), is a remarkably strong sensitizer, which is found nowhere else in the plant kingdom. It has been described as approximating an "ideal allergen". == References ==