Ecbolium glabratum Vollesen

Perennial herb with several stems from woody rootstock, or shrubby herb, to 1 m tall; young stems glabrous and glaucous. Leaves glabrous (rarely with a few hairs on midrib beneath), glaucous, sessile (rarely petiole up to 1 mm); lamina ovate-elliptic or narrowly so (or very slightly pandurate), largest 3-7 (-9.5) x 1.7-3(-4.2) cm; apex subacute to broadly rounded; base truncate to slightly auriculate and then clasping stem. Spikes 2-11 cm long; peduncle 4-15(-25) mm long; axes glabrous or with scattered capitate glands, no hairs. Bracts elliptic; lower 15-30(-40) x 7-18 mm, rounded (basal) to acute, acumen less than 0.5 mm long; upper glabrous, entire. Flowers solitary; bracteoles 1-3 mm long. Calyx 5-8 mm long, finely ciliate on edges of lobes (mostly near base), otherwise glabrous. Corolla tube 23-33 mm long; middle lobe in lower lip 13-17 x 7-10 mm, laterals up to 15 x 7 mm; upper lip 10-13 x 1-2 mm. Capsule 18-25 mm long, glabrous; seed 8-10 x 6.5-8.5 mm, tuberculate, tubercles glandular, often merging into crests near edge.