Herbs to 2 m tall, the stems smooth, glabrous or villose. Leaves elliptic, to 25 cm long, to 8 cm wide, attenuate acuminate at the apex, the acumen to 3 cm long, cuneate at the base, the costa immersed above, plano compressed beneath, the lateral veins ca. 25, arcuate, glabrescent above, appressed villosulose on the costa beneath, chartaceous, concolorous, the raphides numerous, scattered, white, linear, to 0.3 mm long; petioles 1-4 cm long; stipules not seen. Inflores-cences sessile, glomerules in the uppermost axils, to 2 cm long or longer, often wider than long. Flowers yellow or greenish, the hypanthium oblong, covered with elongate ferrugineous hairs to 1.6 mm long, the calycine lobes 4, ca. 3.5 mm long, obtuse; corolla ca. 4.5 mm long, the tube cylindrical, ca. 1 mm wide, the lobes shorter than the tube; stamens 4, ovate, ca. 1.5 mm long, the connective not produced at the apex or the base; stigmas 2, oblong, spreading, ca. 1.5 mm long, the style ca. 2.5 mm long. Fruits scarlet (fide Davidson).
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