Shrub. Branchlets ± terete, woolly tomentose; leaf-axils provided with a tuft of c. 1.5 cm long, isabelline, sericeous hairs, in older leaves forming a kind of papyraceous ligule. Leaves whorled in fours, ± tufted at the end of the branches; petiole c. ¾-1 cm long, grooved above, densely woolly; blade obovate-oblong, 5.5-7 by 2½-3 cm, chartaceous, apparently convex with recurved margins, fairly densely shortly tomentose above, glabrescent, densely woolly tomentose beneath; base cuneate, slightly attenuate; margin minutely serrate towards the apex; apex acute; midrib slightly sunken above, prominent beneath; nerves c. 10-12 pairs, prominulous above, invisible beneath. Inflorescences condensed, few-flowered, peduncle short; bracts relatively large. Flowers 14 mm long. Calyx lobes different, dorsal one narrowly deltoid, acute, 2.5 mm, the others ovate, rounded, ventral one 1 mm, laterals 0.75 mm, all outside (as well as the ovary) fairly densely, inside sparsely woolly. Corolla tube inside densely woolly, more sparsely so in the basal 1/4 of the lobes, outdise densely woolly-tomentose but for the basal half of the tube; membranous margins of the lobes broad and crispy in the upper half, in the lower half narrowed and with some long and stiff marginal hairs and 2 or 3 lengthened teeth crowned with a brush-like bundle of hairs. Style with a few woolly hairs in the basal half and a collar of long, stiff, spreading hairs just under the indusium. Fruits unknown.
Home