Herb or subshrub to 2 m; stems ascending or erect, branched, 30-120 cm, glabrescent. Leaves petiolate; blade lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 3.5-12 x 0.3-1.3 (-2) cm, attenuate or acuminate at base and apex, glabrate above, strigose beneath. Inflorescence of simple, axillary or terminal, solitary head-like spikes; head-like spikes erect, ovoid-globose or subglobose, 3-5 cm long, eventually (becoming) elongated; bracts ovate-cordate, glabrous, slightly pilose. Tepals oblong-lanceolate, ca. 4.2-5 mm long, subacute, 3-veined, glabrous on back, with a very short tuft of hairs shorter than bracteoles at base; filaments ciliolate on margin, apical appendages of filaments oblong; stigmas subglobose.