Herbs to 1.2 m tall, isophyllous, drying blackish green. Stems 4-angled, sulcate, bifariously pubescent. Petiole (0.2-)1-2.8 cm, hirsute; leaf blade elliptic to long ovate, 4.5-13 × 1.4-5 cm, both surfaces slightly strigose, adaxially densely covered with linear cystoliths, secondary veins 7 or 8 on each side of midvein, base attenuate, margin serrate, apex acuminate. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, spikes, 3-20 cm, with 2-7 flower pairs; peduncle ca. 1 cm, pubescent; rachis pubescent with gland-tipped trichomes; bracts linear-lanceolate, 6-8 × 1-2 mm, persistent, abaxially pubescent with gland-tipped trichomes, 1-veined, apex acute; bracteoles linear, 4-6 × ca. 1 mm, pubescent with gland-tipped trichomes, apex acute. Flowers 1.5-3.5 cm apart on rachis, usually only one sterile per node. Calyx 1.2-1.8 cm, outside pilose with gland-tipped trichomes, 2-lipped; lower lip 2-lobed almost to base, lobes lanceolate and 10-16 × 1.2-1.5 mm; upper lip 3-lobed, lobes triangular and 4-6 × 1.2-1.5 mm. Corolla violet blue, ca. 3.5 cm, slightly curved, outside glabrous, inside glabrous except for trichomes retaining style; tube basally cylindric and narrow for ca. 7 mm then gradually widened to ca. 1 cm at mouth; lobes oblong-ovate, ca. 7 × 6 mm, apex emarginate. Stamens 4, included; filaments hirsute, shorter pair ca. 2.2 mm, longer pair ca. 5 mm; anther thecae oblong, ca. 2 mm; pollen type 3. Ovary ellipsoid, ca. 3 mm, glabrous; style ca. 1.8 cm, sparsely gland-tipped pubescent. Capsule oblong, 1.5-1.8 cm, gland-tipped pubescent at tip, 4-seeded. Seeds ovate in outline, ca. 3 × 2 mm, convex, densely pilose; areola small, glabrous. Fl. Oct-Jan.
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