A shrub, about 5 feet high, with pale branches. Leaves opposite, elliptical, narrowed at both ends, chartaceous, glabrate above, pubescent beneath, 1 1/2–5 by 3/4–2 1/2 in.; lateral veins about 10–12 pairs; petiole 1/6– 1/2 in.; stipules subtruncate, sheathing, 1/4– 3/8 in. long. Flowers tetramerous, 1–1 1/2 in. long, on short pedicels, crowded in dense terminal sessile clusters 2–4 in. diameter. Calyx ebracteolate, shortly pubescent or glabrate, 1/4– 1/3 in., deeply lobed, persistent, erect; lobes subulate, rather unequal, 1/8– 1/6 in. long. Corolla-tube pubescent inside, glabrous outside or very nearly so, robust; lobes oval-oblong, mucronulate, 1/3– 3/8 in. long. Anthers 1/4– 1/3 in. long, exserted; filaments short. Disk glabrous. Ovary campanulate, small; style exserted by 2/3– 5/6 in., puberulous above, glabrous below, undivided; ovules pendulous, not immersed. Fruit shining, nearly glabrous, 1/4– 1/3 in. diameter.
