Shrub to 3 m tall, without lignotuber. Bark thin, smooth, grey or pale brown. Stems glabrous, orange or pink. Leaves: petiole 2-4 mm long; lamina cuneate to narrowly obovate, 2-11 cm long, 5-25 mm wide, truncate; margins not recurved, entire or sparsely serrate; both surfaces glabrous, except white wool in pits in lower surface. Inflorescence 2-9 cm long; involucral bracts subulate, 5-10 mm long, glabrous with pubescent tips. Flowers pale mauve to pink, rarely pale rusty; limb greyish; styles cream. Perianth 20-29 mm long including limb of 3-4 mm and awn of 3-10 mm, pubescent to hirsute outside, glabrous inside. Pistil gently curved, 15-21 mm long, wiry, glabrous; pollen presenter narrow, 1.3-1.4 mm long. Old flowers persistent. Follicles up to 20, elliptic to broadly oblong, 20-28 mm long, 10-12 mm high, 10-18 mm wide; valves semi-circular, swollen, smooth, pubescent, glabrescent. Seed obovate, 22-25 mm long; seed body semi-elliptic, 10-11 mm long, 6 mm wide, smooth or almost so.
Grows in rocky or shale soil, quartzite or metasandstone, in shrubland, usually on hillsides and peaks.
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