Helicteres baruensis, or the tornillo de Venezuela ("Venezuelan screw")[1] is a species of plant belonging to the family Malvaceae.
It is a shrub that reaches a size of 2m (07feet) in height. Leaves ovate, sometimes asymmetric, NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) long and NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) wide, apex acute, base cordate; petiole NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) long. Flowers zygomorphic, oblique, with shiny nectaries on the peduncle; calyx tubular-bell-shaped, NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) long and 1cm (00inches) wide, bilabiate; petals ribbon-like, greenish; androgynophore curved, NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) long, tomentose. Capsule spiraled, sometimes straight towards the apex, NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) long and NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches) wide, grayish.
It is native to the West Indies, where it grows in warm climates, from sea level to 30m (100feet) in altitude, associated with tropical deciduous and subdeciduous forests.
In Quintana Roo of Mexico, it is used for respiratory ailments, such as cough and asthma.[2]
'Helicteres baruensis' was described by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin and published in Enumeratio Systematica Plantarum, quas in insulis Caribaeis 30. 1760.[3]