Stems twining; young parts sparsely pilose with short, appressed, whitish hairs, glabrescent. Leaves ovate, ovate-oblong, or elliptic-oblong, 5½-17 by 3-10 cm; rounded, truncate, or subcordate at the base; attenuate or acuminate and mucronulate at the apex; upper surface glabrous or nearly so, lower surface sparsely to rather densely pilose with short, appressed, straight hairs; midrib and 8-10 nerves on either side prominent beneath, minor nervation reticulate beneath; petiole 2-5 cm, appressed-pilose. Peduncle distinctly shorter than the petiole, 1-2½ cm, rather densely pilose, 2-to few-flowered. Pedicels 3-5 mm, hairy like the peduncle. Bracts linear to oblong, 8-15 mm long, appressed-pilose beneath, glabrous or nearly so above, caducous. Sepals unequal, outer ones longer than inner, with ± undulate margins; 2 outer ones ovate to orbicular, acutish to obtuse, (10-)15-18 mm long, outside densely sericeous, sometimes less densely so towards the apex, inside glabrous or nearly so; sepal 3 narrow-elliptic to ovate, obtuse, (7-) 13 mm long; two inner sepals ovate-oblong, elliptic, or ovate, obtuse, (7-)8-9 mm long, densely whitish sericeous outside, sometimes with glabrous but ciliate margins; sepals enlarged in fruit, outer ones up to 20 mm long, red inside. Corolla funnel-shaped, ca 3-4½ cm long, purplish pink; limb shallowly lobed; midpetaline bands sericeous just as the upper portion of the tube. Stamens and style nearly as long as the corolla; filaments with pilose base. Ovary glabrous, 2-celled. Fruit depressed-globose (always?), 7-10 mm diam., 2-4-seeded. Seeds ca 5½ mm long (ripe?).
Home