Perennial, erect or prostrate, subshrubby herb, 5–15(25) cm tall, usually with a long rhizome.Stems at first sparsely to densely setose-hairy but becoming glabrous; bark brown, finely fissured.Leaves paired, very rarely in whorls of 3; blades 4–9.5(16) × 1.6–4.7 cm, oblong to oblong-elliptic, elliptic or oblanceolate, obtuse, acute or shortly acuminate at the apex, cuneate at the base, glabrous to covered on both surfaces with dense seta-like hairs which do not in any way hide the surface, often quite scabrid; petiole 0–3(7) mm long; stipules scarious to thicker with a subulate appendage 2–6 mm long, from a base 1–2 mm long, densely setose or glabrescent.Inflorescences axillary, simple, 3–7(many)-flowered, often at ground level, densely setose; peduncles 5–6(12) mm long; pedicels 5–8 mm long, bracts scarious, usually several at base of inflorescence and conspicuous, 2–3 mm long and wide, obovate, obtuse.Calyx tube 1.5 mm long; limb-tube 0–2 mm long; lobes erect, 2–8.5 mm long, narrowly oblong or linear, usually setose.Corolla filiform-apiculate in bud, appendages up to 3 mm long; tube white or pale greenish-cream, sparsely setose, 4–8 mm long, subcampanulate to quite narrowly cylindrical; lobes green outside, 4–6 mm long including the filiform appendage, 2 mm wide, narrowly triangular.Anthers brown, exserted, 1–1.7 mm long; filaments short, about 1 mm long.Ovary 5-locular.Style slender, 5–9 mm long; pollen presenter pale green, cylindrical or coroniform, 0.75–1 mm long, slightly 5-lobulate.Fruit black or yellow-brown, 1.5–2 cm in diameter, subglobose, pear-shaped or oblique, with (1)2–5 pyrenes; pyrenes 1.1–1.5 cm × 6–8 mm, ellipsoid, obtusely subtrigonous, with a sharp point above point of attachment, rugulose.
