Description:
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Erect shrubby perennial herb, up to c. 1m tall, growing from a creeping woody rootstock. Stems more or less hairy when young. Leaves opposite, more or less narrowly elliptic to somewhat obovate, up to 12 cm long, almost hairless or with scattered long glossy hairs, especially on the veins and margins; base sometimes decurrent to stem but sometimes the petiole is distinct, up to 5 mm long; margin almost entire or with downwardly bent teeth. Flowers in condensed many-flowered well-separated axillary clusters; outer bracts leaf-like, up to 3.5 × 1 cm. Calyx 9-16 mm long with long glossy hairs and linear-lanceolate teeth. Corolla white, pale mauve or pinkish-purple with red to mauve markings on the lower lip. Fruit an obovoid capsule, 8-9 mm long. |