Herbs perennial, to 60 cm tall, drying slightly black. Stems densely pubescent, short branched apically. Leaves usually in whorls of 4; petiole ca. 3 mm; leaf blade linear-oblong to narrowly lanceolate, to 4.5 cm X 8 mm, leathery, pinnatifid; segments wider than long, serrulate, teeth callose. Inflorescences racemose, many flowered, dense; bracts leaflike, longer than calyx. Pedicel short. Calyx campanulate, ca. 5 mm, membranous; lobes 5, triangular, long ciliate, entire. Corolla purplish red, ca. 1.8 cm; tube slightly decurved near calyx lobes, ca. 2 X as long as throat of calyx; galea slightly curved apically, with 1 subulate marginal tooth on each side; lower lip ca. as long as galea, middle lobe much smaller than lateral lobes, ovate, all lobes serrulate. Filaments glabrous. Capsule partly enclosed by calyx, oblong, ca. 7 mm. Fl. Aug--Dec, fr. Sep--Dec.
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