Helicteres baruensis

Helicteres baruensis, or the tornillo de Venezuela ("Venezuelan screw") is a species of plant belonging to the family Malvaceae.

Description
It is a shrub that reaches a size of 2 m in height. Leaves ovate, sometimes asymmetric, 9–16 cm long and 6–10 cm wide, apex acute, base cordate; petiole 1–3 cm long. Flowers zygomorphic, oblique, with shiny nectaries on the peduncle; calyx tubular-bell-shaped, 2.5–3 cm long and 1 cm wide, bilabiate; petals ribbon-like, greenish; androgynophore curved, 8–11 cm long, tomentose. Capsule spiraled, sometimes straight towards the apex, 2.3–4 cm long and 1–1.3 cm wide, grayish.

Distribution and habitat
It is native to the West Indies, where it grows in warm climates, from sea level to 30 m in altitude, associated with tropical deciduous and subdeciduous forests.

Properties
In Quintana Roo of Mexico, it is used for respiratory ailments, such as cough and asthma.

Taxonomy
'Helicteres baruensis' was described by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin and published in Enumeratio Systematica Plantarum, quas in insulis Caribaeis 30. 1760.
 * Synonymy:
 * Helicteres altheifolia Benth.
 * Helicteres mollis C.Presl