Shrub; stems erect or sprawling-decumbent, up to 1 m. long, which usually die back annually, tomentose when young; rootstock tuberous.. Leaf-blade ovate (see note), 3–15 cm. long, 2–12 cm. wide, subacute, or obtuse and mucronulate at the apex, cuneate or truncate at the base, glabrous or glabrescent above, with impressed nerves, densely tomentose beneath particularly on the nerves, later often glabrescent; petiole 1.2–9 cm. long, biglandular at the apex.. Flowers solitary, clustered at the apices of the shoots; peduncle and pedicels together about 1 cm. long, elongating to 2.5 cm. or more in fruit.. Sepals elongate-elliptic, 10–17 mm. long, 5–8 mm. wide, scarcely enlarging in fruit, very obtuse, glabrous.. Corolla opening at night, white, up to 16 cm. long; tube cylindrical, very slender, (7.5–)9–11 cm. long, 3.5–4 mm. in diameter; limb salver-shaped, 7–9 cm. in diameter, frilly-edged.. Capsule ovoid, up to 3.0 cm. long, 1.7–2 cm. wide; valves with rather prominent nerves.. Seeds as in last species, 15 mm. long, 5 mm. wide, covered with very pale purplish-brown hairs 2–2.5 cm. long.. Fig. 24/7, p. 131.
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A herb that can lie along the ground or extend upwards. It has a tuberous rootstock and re-grows from this. The stems are thin and green. The tubers are grey and 40 cm long by 15 cm wide. There can be several tubers from one plant. The leaves are large and oval. The leaves are hairy when young and smooth later. They are folded. The flowers are large and white and at the tips of the branches. They are tube shaped. The fruit turn brown when dry. They burst open to release small hairy seeds.
A tropical plant. In Kenya it grows in open grassland between 1,200-2,000 m altitude. It can grow in arid places.
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