Herbs, subshrubby, 0.9-2.5(-5) m tall. Stems much branched, glabrous. Leaves alternate, thickly papery, lower leaves long petiolate, blade narrowly oblong, up to 25 cm; middle and upper ones sessile or shortly petiolate, lanceolate or elliptic (rarely oblanceolate), 6-35 × 0.6-6 cm, both surfaces glabrous, base attenuate or cuneate, margin serrulate, apex acuminate. Racemes terminal, paniculate, densely flowered; flowers oriented to one side; lower bracts linear-lanceolate, longer than flowers, margin denticulate; upper ones lanceolate or linear, shorter than flowers, entire or serrulate; pedicels 3-16 mm, slightly compressed, curved backward, with 2 linear bracteoles. Hypanthium campanulate, oblong, or obconic, 3-8 mm, glabrous; calyx lobes subulate, linear, or linear-triangular, (8-)16-20(-27) × 0.9-2.5 mm, glabrous, entire (rarely with 1 or 2 teeth per side). Corolla purple-red, purple-blue, pale blue, or pinkish, 2-3(-3.5) cm, inside densely villous below throat; upper lobes ascending or spreading, linear, 0.8-1.3 mm wide, ca. 2/3 as long as total length of corolla; lower ones spreading, lanceolate, ca. 1/2 as long as total length of corolla. Stamens connate into tube; filament tube nearly as long as corolla tube, glabrous except at base; anther tube 4.5-7 mm, glabrous or base with several tufts of short hairs, lower 2 anthers barbate at top. Capsule pendent, oblong or ellipsoid, 10-16 × 5-9 mm, glabrous. Seeds ellipsoid, finely striate. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.
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