Plant glab., reddish or pinkish to white in all parts; roots smooth, c. 1-1.5 mm. diam., branching at intervals of c. 1-2 cm. and giving off at almost every fork an unbranched, ± erect stem 5-20 mm. long. Scale lvs few, ovate, acute, the largest (us. the 3 just below fl.) to 5 × 2 mm. Fl. c. 15 mm. long, solitary, terminal, mostly red. Per.-tube c. 10 × 8 mm., long-turbinate, translucent; outer lobes c. 4 × 1 mm., narrow-triangular, erect or sts reflexed, in mature fl. narrower than the fenestrae between inner lobes; inner lobes c. 4-5 × 2.5 mm., arching inwards and firmly connate above to form a mitre with broad fenestrae in its sides, the projecting keel of each inner lobe produced into a free appendage that varies from a short subula to a well-developed process several mm. long. Stamens scarcely visible from outside, pendent from the short, us. red annulus; free filaments very short, incurved; anthers broader and connate into a pale tube that reaches more than half way down the per.-tube; pollen sacs very small, widely separated, near upper limit of tube; connectives delicately membr. and elaborately lobed, the free margin with a long median hair between 2 triangular teeth; behind this hangs a spathulate anther-appendage, ciliolate on its free margin. Nectaries 6, below the anthers, each one lying on the line of junction of 2 adjacent connectives, and enclosed within its own membr. pouch. Ovary short-turbinate, c. 1.5 × 2 mm., upper surface slightly concave; style stout, c. 1 mm. long; stigmas truncate-obovate, shortly bilobed; ovules with long funicles, crowded on stalked placentae and filling the upper part of the ovary. Fr. fleshy, the upper portion becoming thin and transparent and then disintegrating to expose the brown seeds.
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