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A shrub, 1–3 ft. high, with a very short fleshy trunk and succulent branches, generally more or less hairy when quite young, and tapering from a very thick base (20 in. circum ference) to less than 1 in. in diam. Leaves obovate-cuneate, rounded or slightly retuse at the apex and usually minutely cuspidate, very gradually tapering towards the base, 1 1/2–4 in. long, 3/4–1 1/2 in. broad, succulent, stiff, more or less tomentose, especially when young, soon glabrescent or quite glabrous (even in bud); secondary nerves quite invisible or very faint, oblique, the middle ones 3–4 lin. apart; petiole very short or 0. Cymes 2-flowered, contracted, sessile, terminal, from a bunch of leaves, minutely tomentose or glabrous; bracts lanceolate to subulate, 2–3 lin. long; pedicels up to 2 lin. long. Calyx hairy, 3–5 lin. long; sepals lanceolate. Corolla pink or crimson, more or less pubescent without; infrastaminal part of the tube 3 1/2–5 lin. long, with 5 hairy lines descending from the filaments almost to the middle, otherwise glabrous within, Suprastaminal part wide, tubular or rather funnel-shaped, 8–15 lin. long, sparingly villous in the throat with 5 descending hairy lines; throat-scales short, decurrent on one side and confluent below, forming an obversely sagittate pocket; lobes oblong or obovate, slightly longer than broad, 8–12 lin. long, obscurely acuminate, usually minutely cuspidate. Anthers 3 lin. long; apical tails reaching to or beyond the corolla-mouth.