Subshrubs to 1.8 m tall, strongly anisophyllous. Stems and branches 4-angled to subterete, sulcate, glabrous, apically somewhat zigzag. Petiole 0.5-2.5 cm, sulcate, glabrous; leaf blade elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 3-14 × 2-6.5 cm, glabrous, both surfaces with prominent cystoliths, abaxially whitish, adaxially dark green, secondary veins 6-8 on each side of midvein, base attenuate, shortly decurrent onto petiole, and often slightly oblique, margin serrate, apex acuminate to caudate and often falcate. Inflorescences axillary, pedunculate heads, often with secondary branching and becoming paniculate; floral bracts oblanceolate to spatulate, 3-5 × 1-2 mm, rapidly caducous, glabrous; bracteoles oblanceolate but often apparently absent. Calyx 5-lobed almost to base; lobes at anthesis linear-oblong, 5-7 × ca. 1 mm, subequal, apically pilose but otherwise glabrous, apex obtuse; lobes in fruit subspatulate, accrescent to ca. 1 cm, often gland-tipped pilose. Corolla violet, 3.2-3.8 cm, outside glabrous, inside glabrous except for trichomes retaining style; tube basally cylindric and ca. 2 mm wide for 8-10 mm then gradually widened to ca. 1 cm at mouth; lobes ovate, 5-6 × 6-7 mm, apex rounded. Stamens 4; shorter filament pair 1.5-2 mm, strongly reflexed, glabrous; longer filament pair 7-8 mm, glabrous or with a few trichomes; anther thecae obliquely ellipsoid, ca. 1.2 mm, incurved; pollen type 3. Ovary glabrous; style 2.3-2.8 cm, hirsute. Capsule narrowly obovoid, ca. 10 × 2.5 mm, glabrous except for a few apical glands, 4-seeded. Seeds ovate in outline, ca. 3 × 2 mm, pilose. Fl. Nov-Feb. 2n = 22.
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