Spreading shrub (1–)2–3 m. tall, occasionally epiphytic; stems glabrous and drying blackish when young, usually ± 2-ribbed. Leaf-blades oblong or elliptic, 6–23 cm. long, 3.5–13 cm. wide, [acute] shortly but distinctly acuminate at the apex, cuneate at the base, glabrous above, hairy on the nerves beneath; lateral nerves 8–14 pairs, sometimes appearing impressed on some young leaves but probably not genuinely so and mostly slightly raised; petiole 1–2.8 cm. long; stipules oblong-triangular, 5–8(–10) mm. long, [glabrous] shortly hairy inside and at margins. Flowers in subsessile or shortly pedunculate 2-several-flowered fascicles on older parts of stems; peduncles 0.3–1[1.5–2] cm. long; bracts and bracteoles ovate, hairy inside. Calyx violet; tube turbinate, 4 mm. long, glabrous; limb-tube 2.5 mm. long; lobes 3, ovate, 0.8–1 cm; long, 0.7–1 cm. wide, venose, glabrous save for a few scattered hairs on the midvein outside near apex [calyx elongate-tubulose, 7–8 mm. long, denticulate]. Corolla white, flushed violet, fleshy; tube 1.2–1.3 cm. long, 4.5–6 mm. wide, hairy inside; lobes 5–6, lanceolate, 6–8 mm. long, thickened at the apex, hairy inside. Stamens included in long-styled form. Ovary 6-locular; style 1.4 cm. long, finely ribbed, just exserted; stigma-lobes 6, linear-oblong, 2.2 mm. long. Fruit [pale steel blue] or cobalt blue, [0.8–1 cm. diameter], 6-locular, grooved between the pyrenes in dry state, crowned with the persistent calyx; pyrenes dark red-brown, segment-shaped, ± lunate, 7.5 mm. long, 4 mm. wide, 3 mm. thick, strongly pointed at the basal end, apically truncate, so that the general effect is that of a bird’s head, excavated around the hilar area, faintly rugose.
