Shrub, up to c. 2 m. Branchlets 1/4-1 cm thick, terete, glabrous to densely tomentose; leaf-axils provided with tufts of silky white hairs, or treelet to 10 m by 5 cm. Leaves spirally arranged, crowded at the ends of the branches, obovate to elliptic, 3.5-20 by 1.5-8 cm, coriaceous to herbaceous, glabrous to tomentose mainly on the lower side; attenuate to the distinctly petioled base; margin scattered denticulate, mainly towards the apex; apex rounded to acute, mucronulate; nervation rather conspicuous, specially beneath. Inflorescences laxly to rather densely branched, 2½-10 cm long, glabrous to densely greyish-tomentose; peduncle 1-6 cm long. Bracts linear, up to 2 by 0.5 cm, with axillary hair-tufts. Flowers 1 cm long, glabrous to rather densely pubescent. Calyx-lobes deltoid, acute, erect, 1 mm high. Corolla greenish-white within and outside at the base, lobes violet; tube inside densely pubescent, membranous margins of the lobes narrowed towards the base, entire. with some scattered long hairs, mainly at the base. Fruits ellipsoid, 5-6 by 2.5 mm, smooth, glabrous to pubescent, black when ripe.
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