decumbent, suffruticose, more or less fasciculato-pubescent or glabrescent; leaves petiolate, elliptic-oblong or ovate, obtuse, either sub-entire, crenate or coarsely toothed, sparsely stellate or glabrescent on the upper, more densely stellato-pilose on the lower surface; stipules ovate or ovato-lanceolate, ciliate or sub-glabrous; flowers in a pedunculate, terminal, lax raceme, pedicels short, very hispid; bracts broadly ovate or ovato-lanceolate, glabrescent; calyx somewhat inflated, semi-quinquefid, hispid or villous; lobes deltoid, acute; petals twice as long as the calyx, the ciliate claw longer than the limb; filaments narrow-spathulate, longer than the anthers; ovary ellipsoid, pubescent. A smaller, rougher and greener plant than H. athæifolia, with shorter calyces, a more racemose inflorescence, and very broad, sub-glabrous bracts.
