Erect herb to 1 m high; branches angled in young parts, inconspicuously pubescent. Leaves: lamina lanceolate to ovate, 2–7 cm long, 0.5–3 cm wide, acuminate or spine-tipped, sparsely pubescent on veins; petiole slender, to 7 mm long. Bract pairs densely clustered in upper axils, usually 6–8 per axil, sometimes fewer, subtended at base by needle-like spines 6–6.5 mm long; bracts broadly orbicular from attenuate base, the larger 5–7 mm long, excluding the apical spine 2 mm long, glandular-hairy. Corolla pink; tube c. 3.5 mm long; lobes c. 5.5 mm long. Staminal filaments sparsely pubescent. Capsule glandular-and eglandular-hairy. Seed glochidiate, at least on margins, c. 2 mm diam.
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