Branches erect, c. 20 cm. tall. Lvs 1-2 cm. long, serrate above, narrowed very gradually to inconspicuous petiole. Infl. elongate, sts with branches of second order. Bracts acuminate. Calyx-lobes acute, the two anterior free, the lateral pair separated by an almost equally long posterior lobe.

n = 21

Subshrub or shrub, 0.1-0.3 (-0.45) m tall. Branches usually erect, sometimes ascending; branchlets red-brown, grey-brown with age; vegetative internodes (2-)4-10(-20) mm long; stem pubescence uniform, hairs eglandular, or rarely glandular hairs also present between leaf bases at nodes in cultivated plants only. Leaves erecto-patent to spreading; lamina oblanceolate or narrowly elliptic, coriaceous to fleshy, weakly folded, (7-)10-30 × (3-)4-8 mm; apex usually subacute, acute, or obtuse; base cuneate; margin red, rounded, smooth, serrate or rarely entire; adaxial surface glabrous, green to bronze green, glossy, with dense stomata; abaxial surface glabrous (or eglandular-hairy on midrib in occasional cultivated plants), green to pale green, dull, with dense stomata; midrib not thickened, depressed to grooved above. Petiole narrowly winged, 2-5(-8) mm long. Inflorescence with 20- 200 flowers, (1-)2-7 cm long. Peduncle 0.5-1.0(- 1.5) cm long; rachis 1-3(-5) cm long, pubescent; bracts subopposite to alternate, or opposite and decussate below, becoming alternate above, subacute to acute, eglandular-ciliate, deltoid. Pedicels eglandular-pubescent, very short or absent. Calyx divisions equally deep. Calyx 2.5-3.5 mm long; lobes 5, not all similar, ovate to deltoid, subacute, eglandular-ciliate. Corolla (6-)7-8 mm diam., pink at anthesis, paler after pollination, throat pink; corolla tube 2.0-2.5 mm long, 1.0-1.5 mm wide, cylindric, slightly swollen at base, equalling or shorter than calyx, glabrous; corolla lobes glabrous; posterior lobe longer than tube, more or less circular, subacute, erect to spreading; lateral lobes broadly elliptic, subacute, spreading; anterior lobe elliptic, subacute, spreading. Stamen filaments white, inserted between middle and base of corolla tube, 2.0-2.5 mm long. Anthers pale yellow. Nectarial disk glandular-ciliate. Ovary globose, emarginate, glabrous, 0.8-1.2 × 0.8-0.9 mm, 0.5- 0.6 mm thick. Ovules c. 16 per locule. Style 5-7 mm long, c. 0.25 mm thick, usually glabrous, sometimes with long glandular hairs, pink, becoming white with age. Stigma globose, pink at anthesis, 0.2-0.3 mm wide. Capsule angustiseptate to turgid, truncate to emarginate, dark brown, 3.5-4.0 × 2.5 mm, 2 mm thick, glabrous; loculicidal split extending 1/3—½- way to base. Seeds weakly flattened, winged, fusiform to obovoid or irregular, pale to reddish brown, smooth to weakly rugulose on back, (1.0-) 1.5-2.5 × 0.8-1.0 mm. Chromosome number 2n = 42 (Hair 1967). FL Sep-Nov, FT Dec-Feb.