Slender herbs up to 1 meter high; stems subquadrangular, pilose, the hairs spreading or retrorsely curved, up to 0.68 mm. long, more or less bifariously arranged; leaf blades oblong, up to 12 cm. long and 3.5 cm. wide, acute or subacuminate and sometimes curved at tip, cuncate at base and decurrent on the petiole, rather firm, entire, the upper surface glabrous or nearly so, except the costa, this sparingly hirtellous, the cystoliths numerous, the lower surface evenly hir- tellous, the hairs straight or slightly curved, spreading or ascending, up to 0.28 mm. long except those of the costa and lateral veins (6 or 7 pairs), these up to 0.96 mm. long, the venation of the lower surface prominent, that of the upper obscure, the margins ciliolate; petioles (unwinged portion) up to 2 cm. long, hirtellous; flowers secund, borne in dense slightly curved terminal and axillary spikes up to 2 cm. long and about 8 mm. broad; peduncles up to 5 mm. long, hirtellous with curved hairs, the lowermost pair of bracts leaflike, oblong-lanceolate, up to 12 mm. long and 3 mm. wide, acute, hirtellous, the succeeding bracts linear-lanceolate, up to 6 mm. long and 0.5 mm. wide, hirtellous, the costa prominent; calyx segments narrowly lance-subulate, up to 1 cm. long and 0.75 mm. wide, mod- erately to sparingly hirtellous, some of the hairs minute and gland- tipped, the costa prominent, this and the basal portion and marginal area of the segments whitish; corolla magenta, 28 mm. long, rather sparingly hirtellous, glabrous at base, the hairs more or less spreading, up to 0.18 mm. long, the tube narrowly cylindric, 1 mm. broad, enlarged at base and mouth to 1.5 mm., the lips about 4 mm. long,
the upper one suberect, narrowly ovate, minutely bilobed at tip, the lower lip spreading, 3-lobed nearly to base, the lobes obovate, 3.5 mm. long, the middle one 3 mm. wide above middle, the lateral ones 2 mm. wide, all obtuse; stamens barely exserted, glabrous, the anthers 2-lobed, the lobes 1-celled, superposed, the upper lobe fertile, 0.75 mm. long and 0.25 mm. broad, the lower lobe affixed about 0.25 mm. below the upper, vestigal and sterile, about 0.25 mm. long; style about as long as the stamens; ovary glabrous; capsules not seen.
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1709430, collected on trail from Codazzi to Sierra, Department of Magdalena, Colombia, 500 meters altitude, October 23, 1943, by Oscar Haught (No. 3775).