Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Small, erect, unbranched subshrubs 30–80 cm tall.

Stems: Stems glabrous.

Roots: From a taproot, sometimes rooting from lower part of stem.

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate, clustered toward upper part of stem. Blades lanceolate to elliptic–lanceolate, 7.5–13 cm long, 1.9–2.6 cm wide. Apex acuminate. Base attenuate. Surfaces glabrous. Margins remotely callose–serrulate. Lateral veins nearly straight. Petioles 1–1.9 cm long. Stipules thin, linear–lanceolate, 11–13 mm long, 1.3–2.5 mm wide, glabrous, margins remotely glandular–toothed, the teeth linear, ca. 0.4–0.5 mm long, apex acuminate, sometimes lobed, if so, lobes linear–lanceolate, 4–4.5 mm long (1 observation).

Flowers: Flowers 1–2 in the upper leaf axils, peduncles ca. 8–12 mm long, pedicels 24–45 mm long, bracteoles well above middle of peduncle. Flowers bisexual (perfect); apparently all chasmogamous. Calyx of 5 sepals, subequal, linear–lanceolate, subequal, ca. 4.8–5.1 mm long, imbricate, upper and lower ones perhaps slightly longer, base slightly prolonged, prolonged into appendages below the point of insertion, persistent. Corolla zygomorphic, consisting of 5 distinct petals, these unequal, lateral ones smaller than upper pair, petals pale lavender or white, upper ones ca. 8–9 mm long, lower one somewhat longer, saccate at base, lateral and lower petals ciliate along claw. Stamens not seen, staminal filaments coherent around ovary; anther connective of lower Stamens prolonged into an appendage, dithecal, opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary superior, 3-carpellate, 1-celled, placentation parietal; ovules numerous per placenta, anatropous; style 1.

Fruit: Capsules with loculicidal dehiscence; 9–11 mm long; elastically dehiscent by rigid keels and thin valve walls. Seeds numerous; pale olive brown; obovoid–ellipsoid; ca. 1.5 mm long; ca. 1–1.1 mm in diameter; seed coat somewhat leathery; dull; apex rounded; with fleshy; oily endosperm.

Ploidy:

Habitat:

Elevation Range: ca. 610 m.