Neuracanthus africanus T.Anderson ex S.Moore

Suffrutex, perennial herb or subshrub with simple or branched stems 15-150(-200) cm long, erect or decumbent. Stems with appressed or irregularly spreading multi-cellular hairs. Leaves 1.5-13(-17.5) x 0.8-6.5 cm, sessile or with petiole up to 4 mm, elliptic to oblong-elliptic or ovate, or subpandurate (see varieties), cuneate to truncate or auriculate at the base, acute to obtuse or rounded at the apex, glabrous to sparsely pubescent particularly on the veins. Inflorescences 1-3 in the axils of the leaves, sessile or subsessile (0.7-)0.8-5(-6) x 0.6-1 cm; bracts at base of inflorescence more or less foliaceous in texture (4-)6-28 (-30) x (1.5-) 3-13 mm, lanceolate to elliptic or spathulate, glabrous to pubescent; main inflorescence bracts 5-12(-14) x (3-)4-8 mm, acute to strongly acuminate at the apex and sometimes spinescent, with 3-7 longitudinal veins sometimes conspicuously darker than the rest of the bract. Calyx 7-11 x 1.5-3 mm, pubescent; anticous part divided a quarter to a third of its length; posticous part 1-2 times as broad as the anticous, with teeth 2-3 mm of which the median is slightly longer than the lateral. Corolla 9-12 mm of which the tube is 4-5 mm, the limb 5-13 mm diameter. Stamens: anticous pair with anthers 0.3-0.5 mm, filaments up to 1 mm. Ovary c. 2 mm; style 2 mm; stigma 0.8 mm; capsule 7-10 x 4 x 2 mm, with a few stomata near base; seeds 4-5 x 3-4 mm.