Woody perennial herb 0.3–2 m. high; branchlets hispid-pilose to scabrid. Leaves subsessile; lamina linear-lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate or oblong-ovate, 1.5–9.5(–11.5) cm. long, 0.5–3 cm. wide, apex acute, base subcuneate, margin slightly serrate and appressed setose, long setose-pilose on both surfaces; midrib and 1–2 pairs of basal longitudinal nerves impressed above, slightly raised beneath. Inflorescence of dense paniculate clusters; flowers 4–5-merous. Calyx-tube (fig. 10/1, 2, p. 31) ovoid-urceolate, 6 mm. long, 4 mm. in diameter, covered with stellate-setose linear or obtriangular capitate appendages, setae sometimes very dense and obscuring the flower; lobes caducous, narrowly triangular, 5 mm. long, margin shortly ciliate, apex with a single stellate-setose scale, otherwise glabrous; intersepalar appendages resembling those of the calyx-tube. Petals pinkish to purple, oblong-obovoid, 10–15 mm. long, 8–13 mm. wide, apex truncate or rounded. Stamens 8 or 10, markedly unequal or subequal in “ osbeckioid ” forms; large stamens with anthers 7–8 mm. long, free part of connective arcuate, 8.5 mm. long, bilobed appendage 2 mm. long, filament 8 mm. long; short stamens (including all of “ osbeckioid ” forms) with anthers 5–8 mm. long, connective produced 0.5–0.8 mm., bituberculate appendage 0.5 mm. long, filament 6 mm. long. Ovary with an apical tuft of setae, concealed by the calyx-tube. Fruiting calyx enlarging, mainly by an elongation of the neck, to 7–10 mm. long, 4.5 mm. in diameter; capsule not exserted.
