Flora in Concepción, Antioquia

The beautiful green mountains of the Concepción region in Antioquia hide treasures unknown to the masses: hundreds of different types of plants that could ignite the imagination of any novelist or dreamer. Color palettes fall short, and the combination of leaves, fruits, or seeds could easily create new tones or Pantone shades found only in these latitudes.

The marvelous flower of Solanum Quitense, more commonly known as Lulo or Naranjilla

A Hibiscus flower along the trail to Alto de la Virgen, Concepción, Antioquia

The beauty of rural heritage also lies in its creativity: plants with names as descriptive as they are imaginative, as unreal as they are functional. Each region may have a different name for the same plant (for example, the "veranera" which is more grandly called "bougainvillea" in Europe). Surely, Carl Linnaeus could never have imagined that his immense Latin-based etymological effort would be reduced to a mere anecdotal story in the Colombian tropics.

The spectacular blooming of a bromeliad found in Concepción, Antioquia

And above all, each plant is distinguished by ancestral benefits outside the indoctrinated books of Western medicine (such as the "sangrienta" for iron deficiency or the "amansatoro" for headaches). We hope that tourists become passionate about discovering this infinite vademecum, starting with the most common species and families. Enjoy this marvelous kaleidoscope of colors and scents:

ORCHIDS

If there is a flower capable of awakening the imagination of any traveler with its exotic appearance, it is the orchid. Colombia is estimated to have more than 4,250 species of orchids, with new species being discovered every day in previously little-explored regions by collectors and botanists. More than 30% of these species are endemic to the country, meaning they are found only in Colombia, usually in very unique and diverse regions.

Concepción and the Antioquian mountains are no exception, and it is easy to find Cattleyas, Zapaticos, and countless other species in full bloom. The Cattleya trianae is considered Colombia's emblematic flower due to its beauty and horticultural importance. While the Cattleya represents the ideal orchid image for most people, the diversity of the family is so vast that the shapes of the plants and their flowers are truly incredible, with highly evolved pollination mechanisms often dependent on specific insects.

In addition to seven species of the genus Cattleya, there are other genera of Colombian orchids growing in jungles and paramos that have greatly contributed to the global horticultural industry, such as Odontoglossum, Miltoniopsis, Masdevallia, Anguloa, Lycaste, and Oncidium, among more than 300 genera found in Colombian territory.

SAN JOAQUÍN

Hibiscus comes from the Greek and Latin words for a plant similar to mallow, while rosa-sinensis means “China rose.” The genus Bougainvillea, popularly known as veranera, trinitaria, bougainvillea, or bugambilia, is a genus in the family Nyctaginaceae, with 18 accepted species out of 35 described. It is native to the humid tropical forests of South America, mainly in areas of Brazil, Peru, and northern Argentina, and widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions.

In Concepción, you can find them everywhere: farms, trails, parks, always accompanied by their most faithful companion—the hummingbird. These tiny birds are strongly attracted to San Joaquins and are constantly seen flying around them in search of their delicious nectar.

AMARRABOLLO

The Amarrabollo is a tree native to the Colombian Andes that is grown as an ornamental plant, mainly in cold climate areas. Its purple or fuchsia-colored flowers and glossy leaves give it great aesthetic appeal. Additionally, it attracts pollinators and native wildlife that feed on its fruits. The Amarrabollo attracts honey-producing bees that participate in the pollination of this and other species. Its fruits are consumed by a wide variety of native birds and mammals that are drawn to the area where this tree is planted. It is an ornamental tree that produces beautiful purple and fuchsia flowers. It helps protect the soil from erosion along stream banks.

 

Mussaenda Erythrophylla flower, known in Concepción, Antioquia as Flor de Cera

 

ARRAYÁN

Luma apiculata is a perennial tree species in the Myrtaceae family. Spanish colonizers called it arrayán due to the resemblance of its flowers to those of the European myrtle. Its bark is brown when young and orange when mature; it is covered by a silky, hairy layer that peels off upon touch. Its leaves are simple, round or oval, shiny on the upper surface, ending in a small point or mucro, dark green above and lighter below, leathery. It produces hermaphroditic flowers in groups of 3 to 5, white or slightly pink and aromatic, up to two centimeters in diameter, with very prominent stamens. The corolla has four large petals. Its berries are edible.

CHICALÁ

It grows at a wide altitudinal range between 0 and 2800 meters above sea level, and in Colombia is found in the departments of Amazonas, Antioquia, Atlántico, Bolívar, Boyacá, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Huila, Magdalena, Nariño, Quindío, Santander, Tolima, and Valle. This species can reach up to 20 meters in height. Its leaves are compound with serrated edges, the bark is gray and deeply fissured, the flowers are bright yellow and arranged at the ends of branches in large clusters. Its fruits are elongated dehiscent capsules, green in the early stages and brown when mature.

 

Seed of a Crassulaceae of the genus Kalanchoe, photo taken at Morro Reyes in Concepción, Antioquia

CHIRLOBIRLO

The tronador or tronadora (Tecoma stans) is a shrub or small tree in the Bignoniaceae family, native to the Americas. It grows in a wide variety of environments and is found on almost every continent. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant for its showy yellow flowers. It has a wide range of uses and more than 50 chemical components. It is a small, evergreen, hermaphroditic shrub or tree with hard wood and opposite, serrated compound leaves. The fruit is elongated (7–21 cm), green-brown in color. Its main feature is the flower, a tubular-campanulate corolla (3–5 cm) of bright yellow color. The branches and trunk easily split longitudinally, causing them to fall, making it an unsafe tree for areas where children play or parking spaces. It is common to see dry branches hanging from the tree or branches that have split yet continue living, in which case the branch forms a faintly curved shape.

Eugenia is a genus of flowering plants in the Myrtaceae family. It is distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. There are approximately 1,000 species, mainly in the tropical regions of the Americas, the Andes, eastern Bolivia (Santa Cruz), the Caribbean, and coastal forests of Brazil. They can also be found in New Caledonia and Madagascar. New species are constantly being discovered. The genus includes 3,122 described species, of which only 1,011 are accepted. They range from small shrubs to large trees; young growth is glabrous or more commonly thinly to densely covered with simple or 2-branched hairs.

GUACAYAN YELLOW OR PINK

In spring, who hasn’t been left in awe in front of a large pink-flowering plant near the Concepción River, very close to the Tierra Madre Nursery or the town’s only Texaco gas station.

Guayacán in Concepción, Antioquia, on the road to Alejandría

It is a Guayacán. A common name used for several native American tree species belonging to the genera Tabebuia, Caesalpinia, Guaiacum, and Porlieria, which also designates the wood they produce. They may also be called palo santo or ironwood, generic terms applied to a wide variety of hard tropical woods from the Americas. All guayacán species are characterized by very hard wood, which is why they share the same name, even though they are not closely related. Their wood is known in English by the Latin name lignum vitae (“tree of life”).

These trees are native to the Caribbean and northern South American coast (especially the Venezuelan coast) and have been an important export crop to Europe since the early 16th century. Their wood was highly valued for applications requiring an extraordinary combination of strength, toughness, and density. Guaiacum is also the national tree of the Bahamas and the national flower of Jamaica. The wood is primarily obtained from Guaiacum officinale and Guaiacum sanctum, both small, slow-growing trees. All species in the Guaiacum genus are now listed in CITES Appendix II as potentially endangered. G. sanctum is considered near threatened on the IUCN Red List. The demand for its wood has decreased with advances in material science, thanks to the development of polymers, alloys, and composite materials that can replace guayacán.