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Shrub, to 2 m tall. Branches erect (mostly) to spreading (in some situations); old stems brown to red-brown; youngest branchlets green to red; internodes (1–)9–21(–39) mm long; leaf decurrencies obscure; leaf-base scars evident, or obscure; stem pubescence uniform or absent, hairs when present eglandular (and varying from relatively short to very long and woolly, on different plants). Leaf bud about as long as mature leaves with leaves of a pair separating when mature (although leaves sometimes expand considerably after separating from bud); sinus often filled with hairs, small and rounded, or square to oblong (sometimes subacute at the apex). Leaves decussate, erecto-patent to recurved; lamina oblong or lanceolate or elliptic or linear or oblanceolate or ovate, coriaceous or subcoriaceous, more or less flat, (15–)30–95(–125) mm long, (3.5–)8–25(–31) mm wide; apex subacute or acute or obtuse; base truncate or cuneate; evident venation in fresh leaves consisting of midrib only or sometimes also faint brochidodromous secondary veins; midrib thickened beneath and depressed to grooved above; margin narrowly cartilaginous, bevelled to rounded, pubescent to puberulent or sparsely ciliate (usually with at least some hairs toward base), entire; upper surface dark to yellowish green, dull to somewhat glossy, without evident or with few stomata, hairy along midrib and sometimes hairy toward base and apex or covered with minute glandular hairs (rarely); lower surface green or light green, dull, with many stomata (but these not necessarily evident), not pitted (but some lower surfaces with scattered glandular hairs in +/– shallow depressions), indumentum variable between plants and populations with undersurfaces being either glabrous or uniformly eglandular pubescent (usually on Coromandel Peninsula) and/or hairy along midrib (most populations). Petiole 0.5–3(–4) mm long, hairy along margins and often hairy above and below. Inflorescences with (20–)30–130(–190) flowers, lateral, racemose and unbranched, (2–)6– 15(–20) cm long, longer than (mostly) or about equal to subtending leaves, flowers opening in acropetal sequence or synchronously within inflorescence, usually with all flowers (including those near the apex) developing to maturity or rarely with a number of unopened flowers toward the apex; peduncle (0.3–)1–2.8 cm long, eglandular pubescent; rachis (1.7–)4–12(–17.5) cm long, eglandular-pubescent; bracts alternate, acute or subacute, ciliate with both glandular and eglandular hairs and sometimes eglandular-hairy outside and/or inside, narrowly deltoid or lanceolate; pedicels much longer than (usually) or equal to or shorter than bracts, eglandular-pubescent, erecto-patent or patent to slightly recurved at anthesis, erecto-patent or ascending or recurved at fruiting. Flowers on individual plants either hermaphrodite or female (the commonness of male sterility is not known, only a few possibly male-sterile specimens are known). Calyx (1.7–)2.3–4 mm long, 4-lobed, equally divided; lobes all similar, deltoid (sometimes narrowly) or lanceolate, acute or acuminate or subacute, with mixed glandular and eglandular cilia and sometimes hairy outside and/or hairy inside, margins narrowly membranous and sometimes tinged pink. Corolla lobes mauve at anthesis (at least faintly) and white after pollination, corolla tube always white; tube hairy inside and often hairy outside (especially near apex, toward clefts between lobes), (1.9–)2.5–5.5 mm long, 1.3–1.7(–1.9) mm wide, narrowly funnelform to shortly cylindric and contracted at base, c. equalling or longer than calyx; tube of female flowers 2–2.5 mm long; lobes longer than or equalling or shorter than corolla tube (the latter condition only true of the anterior lobe), usually hairy inside or at least with a few hairs toward base on inner surface and sometimes hairy outside; posterior lobe lanceolate or elliptic, subacute (mostly) or obtuse, suberect to patent, with margin and apex flat; lateral lobes lanceolate or elliptic, subacute or obtuse, suberect, with margin and apex flat; anterior lobe lanceolate, subacute to obtuse, suberect, with margin and apex flat. Stamen filaments white, diverging after anthesis, 4.5–6 mm long; anthers subacute to conspicuously apiculate, mauve or purple, 1.1–1.5 mm long; sterile anthers 0.8–1 mm long (when dry). Nectarial disc glabrous. Ovary ovoid, eglandular hairy or glabrous (may vary on one plant), 0.9–1.1 mm long; ovules c. 6– 11 per locule, marginal in one layer on a flattened placenta; style 3.5–7(–10.5) mm long, c. 0.15– 0.175 mm thick, with uni- and multi-cellular hairs or glabrous (can vary on one plant), white or mauve; stigma no wider than style, yellow or green or mauve or red at anthesis, c. 0.15–0.175 mm wide. Capsules latiseptate, obtuse or subacute, dark brown, 2.5–4(–5) mm long, 2–3.4 mm wide, with eglandular, unicellular hairs and with eglandular, multicellular hairs or glabrous, septicidal split extending to base, loculicidal split extending 1⁄4 – 1⁄2 way to base.