Small plants up to 20 cm high, deep rooted. Stem perennial, woody, rhizomatous giving off short annual shoots which are unbranched or form 1-2 short basal branches, minutely pubescent in the grooves, nodes bristly. Leaves lanceolate, ca 3 x 1 cm, coriaceous, glabrous, shiny, apex tipped with a short spine, tapered at the base into a short petiole, or sessile, margin white, wavy, entire or sparsely spinous. Flowers solitary, axillary, bractless. Bracteoles about as long as the leaves but narrower and with a prominent lateral nerve on each side of the midrib. Calyx with the posticous sepal broadly ovate, reticulate, spine tipped, about as long as the bracteoles; anticous similar to posticous but bispinous at the apex; lateral segments small, linear, 1 cm long. Corolla pale mauve, with a narrow tube 2 cm long, limb 5-lobed, regular, somewhat shorter than the tube. Stamens dissimilar, two protruding from tube, two smaller included, the fifth represented by a short filament only. Ovary glabrous, style filiform, stigma capitate. Capsule typical, 2 cm long.
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