Suffrutescent or herbaceous, up to 1 meter high; stems erect or ascending, quadrangular with sharp or narrowly winged angles, spar- ingly to rather densely pubescent, the hairs curved to straight and spreading; leaf blades ovate to elliptic or oblong-elliptic, 7 to 14 cm. long, 3 to 7 cm. wide, short-acuminate, narrowed or rounded at base and briefly decurrent on the petiole, entire or shallowly crenate, the upper surface sparingly pubescent, the lower densely so, the hairs
about 0.5 mm. long, the costa and lateral veins (8 or 9 pairs) fairly prominent, the cystoliths of the upper surface, if not obscured by the hairs, prominent; petioles 1 to 2.5 cm. long, pubescent; flowers borne on axillary dichotomously branched peduncles up to 14 cm. long, sharply quadrangular, straight or curved, pubescent, the hairs about 0.5 mm. long, the secondary peduncles, if present, about 1.5 cm. long, quadrangular, pubescent; pedicels slender, about 1 cm. long, finely and rather sparingly pubescent or glabrate; bracts at tip of the pedun- cle narrowly oblong, 1 to 1.5 cm. long and 1.5 to 3.5 mm. wide, early deciduous, the smaller bracts, subtending the branches of the inflores- cence, narrowly spathulate or linear, about 1 mm. wide; calyx 8 mm. long, sparingly and minutely pubescent, the segments subulate, about 7 mm. long and 0.75 mm. wide at base, the cystoliths apparent; corolla bright red, salmon, or scarlet (Rusby & Pennell), about 3 cm. long,
glabrous or minutely and sparingly pubescent toward base, the tube narrowly funnelform, curved, ventricose, about 1 cm. broad at mouth, the lower unexpanded portion about 1 cm. long and 2 mm. broad, the lobes ovate, about 15 mm. long and 9 mm. wide, obtuse or emarginate at tip; stamens exserted about 5 mm. beyond the mouth of the tube, the anthers linear, curved, 3 mm. long and 0.5 mm. wide; ovary bearing a few minute glandular hairs; style glabrous, barely 3 cm. long, the stigma narrowly linear-lanceolate, 2 mm. long and 0.5 mm. wide; capsules narrowly clavate, 1.5 to 2.2 cm. long and 4 mm. broad, glabrous, the narrow solid stipe 5 to 8 mm. long and nearly 2 mm. broad; seeds flat, 3 mm. long and 2.5 mm. broad, brown, the margins densely white gelatinous-puberulous when moistened.
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1706762, collected along the Río Totare near Palmarrosa, Department of Tolima, Colombia, October 18, 1938, by Oscar Haught (No. 2364).