Shrub, 2-3 m tall; stems villous (crisp-villous when dry), glandular-pubescent and sometimes gland-dotted. Petioles 5-10 mm long; blades ovate-elliptic, sharply long-acuminate, unequal at base with one side 1-6 mm shorter and acute to obtuse (the longer side rounded to subcordate), 8-17 cm long, 3-7 cm wide, densely scabrous above, interspersed with longer straight trichomes, the surface rugulose in age, densely villous below, prominently dotted with reddish-brown glands, the major lateral veins chiefly in basal half, in 5 or 6 pairs. Spikes to 9 cm long and 4 mm diam; peduncles 5-10 mm long; bracts small, round, densely ciliolate with short white trichomes especially on upper edge. Fruits dark brown, obovoid, +/- flattened and puberulent with white glands at apex; stigma small, sessile. Croat 9400, 12812. Uncommon, in clearings. Flowering and fruiting to some extent throughout the year. Flowering is initiated mostly in the late rainy season, with the fruits maturing mostly in the dry and early rainy seasons.