an undershrub, about 3 ft. high, of bushy growth; branches glabrous, purplish; leaves lanceolate or oblanceolate, narrowed towards the base, more or less undulate, acute or subacute, up to 4 in. long and 2/3– 4/5 in. broad, coriaceous with thickened pinkish margins, glabrous, with a prominent midrib and obscure venation; heads sessile, oblong-turbinate, 4 in. long, 3 in. across; involucral bracts 7–8-seriate, outermost green with black tips, the following pinkish upwards with black tips, the inner and innermost yellowish on the back with pinkish sides, ciliate and the innermost crowned with a large round tuft of long black hairs, all more or less lanceolate and acute, the inner much elongated; perianth-sheath 1 1/2–1 3/4 in. long, purplish, pubescent and villous upwards; lip 4–5 lin. long, awned, awns about 1/2 in. long, purplish-villous; anthers 3 lin. long with a red apical gland; style 1 3/4 in. long, purple upwards, glabrous; stigma 4 lin. long, geniculate at the junction with the style. null
