Shrub to 3 m tall, without lignotuber. Bark smooth, greenish brown, becoming lightly tessellated and grey. Stems glabrous, red or reddish brown. Leaves thin; petiole 1-4 mm long; lamina undulate, narrowly cuneate, 3-15 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, truncate; margins not recurved, serrate; both surfaces glabrous except wool in pits in lower surface. Inflorescence 2-10 cm long; involucral bracts subulate, 5-10 mm long, glabrous with pubescent tips. Flowers yellow, orange or brown with rusty indumentum; styles cream. Perianth 23-27 mm long including limb of 3-3.5 mm and awn of 4-5 mm, pubescent outside, hirsute inside in upper half; awn downturned. Pistil 17-21 mm long, gently curved, stiff, glabrous; pollen presenter 0.8-1 mm long. Old flowers persistent. Follicles up to 35, broadly linear, undulate, 15-20 mm long, 11-15 mm high, 4-6 mm wide; valves semi-circular, slightly rugose, shortly pubescent. Seed obovate, 20-21 mm long; seed body cuneate, 8-9 mm long, 5-6 mm wide, somewhat ridged inside, ridged outside.
Found in sand, often peaty, in depressions and on swamp margins, in shrubland-sedge formations, sometimes in low woodland.
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