perennial, stemless; rootstock tapering; leaves 1–12 in. long, 1/2–1 1/2 in. broad, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, entire or toothed, gradually narrowed to a sessile base or to a short petiole, 3–5- (rarely 7-) nerved; axils woolly; peduncles longer than the leaves, grooved, angular, erect or ascending, puberulous or glabrous; spikes 1/2–2 in. long, ovoid, globose or cylindric; bracts ovate, acuminate, as long as the calyx, glabrous; sepals oblong, obtuse, 1 1/2 lin. long, hairy on the nerves at the back near the top, 2 of them connate almost throughout their length, giving rise to a 3-lobed calyx with 1 of the sepals obovate, 2-fid at the apex and 2-nerved; corolla-tube 1 lin. long; lobes 1 lin. long, broadly ovate, acuminate, usually with a tubercular thickening at the base of each lobe; filaments 1 1/4 lin. long; anthers 1 1/4 lin. long; style 2 lin. long; capsules 2-seeded. null
