Shrub to 2 m tall, to 3 m wide, much-branched, without lignotuber. Bark thin, lightly fissured, grey. Stems tomentose to hirsute, pale brown, becoming glabrous and grey. Leaves: petiole 5-10 mm long; lamina narrowly obovate-oblong, 4-13 cm long, 0.5-3.5 cm wide, obtuse; margins recurved or not, dentate or serrate; upper surface tomentose, glabrescent; lower surface hirsute with woolly pits, glabrescent on nerves. Inflorescence 7-17 cm long; involucral bracts fine, woolly, persistent. Flowers cream or rusty with grey or grey-brown limb and mauve or rusty awn; styles cream. Perianth 58-65 mm long including limb of 3-4 mm and awn of 15-17 mm, pubescent to hirsute outside, glabrous inside. Pistil 45-55 mm long, gently curved, kinked below apex, glabrous; pollen presenter erect, narrow, 2-4 mm long, finely ribbed. Old flowers persistent. Follicles up to 60, narrowly elliptic, 22-29 mm long, 12-17 mm high, 8-12 mm wide; valves slightly rugose, tomentose. Seed obovate, 32-40 mm long; seed body obovate, 12-15 mm long, 7-8 mm wide, smooth inside, pitted and ridged outside.
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