Shrubs to 3 m tall, the branchlets terete, hirsute, the nodes occasionally prox-imate, usually well spaced, 2.0-5.5 cm apart. Leaves oblong, occasionally oblong rotund, 10-40 cm long, 4.5-17.0 cm wide, rounded or deltoid at the apex, the acumen to 1.5 cm long or longer, often falcate, the base obtuse, acute or widely cuneate, occasionally subrotund, the costa slender, prominulous above, promi-nent beneath, the lateral veins 15-20, widely arcuate, prominent beneath with 1-2 subparallel veins between adjacent lateral veins, the minor veins pinnatiform, the intervenal areas patulous reticulate, stiffly chartaceous, concolorous, pilose above and beneath; petioles to 2.5 cm long, densely pubescent; stipules connate, the sheath to 2 cm long, each part oblong rectangular or ovate oblong with 2 widely subulate lobes, to 0.7 cm long, ca. 0.3 cm wide at the base, often somewhat divergent, widely scarious margined, villose outside. Inflorescences terminal, solitary, often nodding, cymose paniculate or disposed as a capitate mass of flowers, 6-12 cm long, 2.5-6.0 cm wide; peduncle elongate, 5.0-6.5 cm long, ca. 0.25 cm wide, villose, the lowermost branches 3-4, radiate, 0.5-2.0 cm long; bracts oblong or ovate lanceolate, 4.8-7.0 mm long, usually acute or deltoid at the apex, thickly petaloid, villose inside and out. Flowers sessile; hypanthium oblong, densely bearded, the calycine cup scarcely measurable, eglandular with-in, the lobes (4-)5(-6), unequal, triangular or subulate, 1-2 mm long, densely hirsute; corolla white, to 1.5 mm long, villosulose within at filament attachment, the lobes 5, oblong, 0.5 mm long, cucullate; stamens 5, the anthers oblong, 0.65 mm long, the filaments 0.5 mm long; style 1 mm long, the stigmas minute. Fruits with the pyrenes oblong, to 4 mm long, obtuse at the apex, costate, densely bearded, the hairs soft, white, usually more dense at each pole, dark blue or china blue.
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