Shrubs up to 2 meters high; stems subquadrangular, upwardly strigose, the hairs up to 0.11 mm. long, rigid; leaf blades oblong- elliptic or oblong-ovate, up to 24 cm. long and 6.5 cm. wide, subacute at tip, acute at base, rather firm, entire or undulate, the upper surface drying dark olive-green, glabrous or sparingly strigose, the hairs up to 0.19 mm. long, the costa and lateral veins (14 to 16 pairs) prominent on both surfaces, the lower surface drying light olive-green, nitid and sparingly strigose, the cystoliths obscure or lacking; petioles up to 1.5 cm. long, sparingly strigose; flowers borne in terminal spikes up to 7 cm. long and 3 cm. broad, these solitary or several, forming a loose panicle; peduncles up to 3 cm. long, subquadrangular, strigose; rachis hirtellous, the hairs spreading, up to 0.11 mm. long, white; bracts imbricate, bright sulphur yellow, elliptic-ovate, up to 28 mm. long, and 11 mm. wide, acute at both ends, hirtellous, up to 0.13 mm. long, some heavy and gland-tipped, others slender and eglandular, the costa and 2 or 3 pairs of lateral veins evident but not prominent; bractlets similar to the bracts but smaller, up to 18 mm. long and 6 mm. wide; calyx 15 mm. long, puberulous, the hairs a mixture of heavy subpapillate gland-tipped ones and fine slender eglandular ones, all spreading and up to 0.16 mm. long; corolla 3 cm. long, bright sulphur yellow, hirtellous, the hairs up to 0.2 mm. long, spreading or retrorse, the tube subcylindric, 3 mm. broad at base, constricted at 4 mm. above base to 2.5 mm, thence abruptly enlarged to 4 mm., then gradually to 5 mm. at mouth, the upper lip more or less erect, oblong-ovate, about 1 cm. long and 4 mm. wide, acute, the lower lip more or less spreading, oblong-obovate, 1 cm. long, 3.5 mm. wide at base of the three lobes, these suborbicular, 1.5 mm. long and rounded at the tip, the middle lobe about 2 mm. wide, the lateral ones some- what narrower; stamens reaching tip of the upper corolla lip, the filaments glabrous, at least above, the anthers 4 mm. long, the cells superposed and vertically attached to the connective, each 2 mm. long and 0.5 mm. thick, the lower cell tailed, the tail about 0.75 mm. long and 0.25 mm. wide; style about 3 cm. long, sparingly and minutely hirtellous near base, otherwise glabrous, the stigma minute and bilobed; ovary nitid, papillose; capsules not seen.
Type in the Kew Herbarium, collected at Carmen, between Ocaña and Pamplona, Department of Norte de Santander, Colombia, "25-3000"" altitude, January 27, 1879, by W. Kalbreyer (No. 930).
This well marked species should be easily recognized by its showy bright sulphur-yellow glandular spikes. There are apparently no close relatives. The specific epithet is from the Greek tartós, yellow, and orάxus, spike.