About Leuenbergeria bleo (Kunth) Lodé
Leuenbergeria bleo (Kunth) Lodé grows as a shrub or small tree, reaching 2 to 8 meters in height, with trunks up to 15 centimeters in diameter. Its olive-green to brownish grey branches are smooth. Leaves are arranged alternately on branches and are distinctly stalked, with petioles up to 3 centimeters long. The leaf blade measures 6 to 20 centimeters long and 2 to 7 centimeters wide, and is elliptic, oblong, or lanceolate in shape. Five-nerved leaf blades have four to six, often fork-shaped, side lobes. Thorns are either arranged parallel in bundles or spread widely apart. Long thorns on branches reach 5 to 10 millimeters long. Along main shoots, each areole can hold up to 40 spines, each 2 centimeters long. Flowers are borne in terminal lateral inflorescences. The bare flowers come in bright red, scarlet, salmon pink, and orange-red-pink shades, and reach 4 to 6 centimeters in diameter. Fruits are conical with a truncated apex, and ripen to yellow. They are edible but have a sour taste. Fruits contain lenticular seeds with a measured surface area of 39.61 mm²; the seeds are 7.81 mm long and 6.45 mm wide. Leuenbergeria bleo occurs alongside rivers and streams in Panama and Colombia, and also grows in secondary forest, at altitudes ranging from sea level up to 1300 meters. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies this species as Least Concern (LC), meaning it is not at risk of extinction.
