Shrub, to 3 (7) m tall; young leaves and stems with dense, simple or branched trichomes, glabrate in age. Stipules lanceolate-linear, 6-8 mm long, paired; petioles 1.5-4 cm long; blades ovate, acuminate, obtuse to cuneate at base, 8-15 cm long, 5-9 cm wide, coarsely serrate. Flowers solitary in axils; pedicel, epicalyx, and calyx sparsely to densely stellate-pubescent; epicalyx bracteoles 5-7, narrow, to 1 cm long; calyx tubular-campanulate, 2-3 cm long, lobed ca one-fourth its length; petals 5, red, obovate, 7-9 cm long; staminal tube long-exserted, to 12 cm long, 5-lobed at apex; filaments to 1 cm long, attached in upper third of tube; style exceeding staminal tube ca 1 cm, the branches pubescent. Fruits not seen. Croat 5467. Cultivated at the laboratory and also present in the Tower Clearing. Flowers throughout the year. Probably native to tropical Asia; cultivated throughout the tropics of the world. In Panama, known from disturbed areas in tropical moist forest in the Canal Zone, Bocas del Toro, San Blas, and Panama and from premontane moist forest in Panama.