Suffrutescent, erect or sparingly branched, 1-5 m tall. Stem glabrous, terete or with upper part subquadrangular. Petiole 2.5-7 cm long, glabrous; blade firm, oblong, elliptic or broadly oblanceolate, 15-27 x 7-11 cm, acute to acuminate at apex, tip itself usually blunt, gradually to rather abruptly narrowed at base, both surfaces glabrous, margin entire; primary and secondary veins (9-12 pairs) rather prominent. Inflorescence a solitary, terminal spike of 12-22 cm long; rachis finely puberulous; bracts imbricate, green, ovate-lanceoate, 15-25 x 7-11 mm, terminal bracts somewhat smaller, apically acuminate, narrowed at base, short-petiolate, puberulous, lower surface more densely so, bearing additional glandular trichomes; bracteoles narrowly linear, ca. 3 x 0.5 mm, sparingly puberulous. Flowers sessile or subsessile; calyx campanulate, 4.5 mm long, lobes narrowly triangular, 3 x 1 mm, apically acuminate, sparingly hirtellous; corolla scarlet, becoming orange-red with age, 55-70 mm long, glabrous to sparingly hirtellous, tube curved, 4 mm wide at base, gradually enlarged to 8 mm at throat, upper lip erect, lanceolate, 6.5 mm wide basally, gradually narrowed to 1.5 mm at tip, 2-lobed, lobes obtuse, 1 x 1 mm, lower lip with lobes spreading, linear, rounded at apex, middle lobe 17 x 3 mm, lateral ones 17-24 x 4 mm; stamens attached near base of corolla tube, filaments yellow, ca. 5 mm long, puberulous, anthers yellow, 7 mm long, deeply sagittate, muticous at base, staminodes rudimentary, puberulous; ovary glabrous. Capsule clavate, 16 x 5 x 4.5 mm, glabrous; retinacula 3 mm long, slightly curved, tips flattened, obtuse; seeds brownish, flattened, cordate, 5.5 x 4 mm, glabrous, surface muricate.
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