Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Sprawling to erect shrubs 1–3 m tall, or small trees up to 4 m tall.

Stems: Young branches glabrate to finely stellate pubescent, without prickles, often with scattered, reddish to yellowish, spreading, simple, spinescent, pustular–based hairs.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Leaves heteroblastic. The leaves at midpoint ovate or 3-5-lobed, 5-14 cm long X 4.5-12 cm wide. The leaves at upper plant: leaves bract-like and oblanceolate, to 20 X 5 mm long or shallowly lanceolate to ovate to 3-5-lobed, 15-60 mm long X 8-80 mm wide. Leaves at mid-plant: apex acute to obtuse. Leaves at upper plant: bract-like and oblanceolate leaves with apex acute, lanceolate to ovate leaves with acute to obtuse apex. Base truncate to cordate (at mid-plant). Leaves at upper plant: bract-like and oblanceolate with a cuneate base. Nectary present at the base of midrib on the abaxial surface; the blades of all leaves adaxially glabrate or finely stellate-pubescent. Margins serrate to dentate: leaves near base of the plant not seen. Leaves at upper plant: bract-like and oblanceolate leaves with serrate margin. Petiolate; leaves at mid-plant: petioles 3-8.5 cm long, sparsely to densely fine stellate-pubescent, or sometimes with a few coarse stellate hairs. Leaves at upper plant: petioles 0.8-9 cm long, pubescent like those at mid-plant. Stipules filiform, 3–15 mm long, sparsely to densely fine stellate-pubescent.

Flowers: Flowers solitary, axillary, or sometimes clustered near the apex; peduncles 2-5 mm in bud, elongating to 13-15 mm in fruit, articulating at the base, sparsely to densely fine stellate-pubescent, with a few long simple hairs to 2 mm: involucellar bracteoles 7-11 in number. linear to narrowly subulate, rounded or flattened, 9-25 mm long, pubescent like peduncles, the apex entire. Flowers bisexual (perfect). Calyx 15 mm in bud, elongating to 25 mm in fruit, the lobes acute to longacuminate at the apex, sparsely to densely fine stellate-pubescent, or sometimes with appressed or matted. shiny, simple (or sometimes 2-forked) pustuliferous hairs, the midrib and marginal ribs green-brown (or brown in mature fruits) or conspicuously red-purple, the nectary on midrib present. Corolla yellow, each petal with a small to large red, brownish, or purple basal spot, the petals obovate. 3.5-4.5 cm long x 2-4 cm wide, ventrally glabrous, dorsally sparsely fine stellate-pUbescent, or sometimes with a few straight hairs. Stamens 5 to numerous, monadelphous, forming a staminal column; staminal column included or exerted, 20-40 mm long, red,-red-brown, or red-purple below, cream or tan-yellow above, the filaments 0.5-3 mm, the anthers monothecal, yellow-tan or red-purple, the pollen cream, tan, brown, orange or red. Pollen globose, echinate, cream, tan, brown, orange or red. Ovary superior, placentation axile; ovules 3 or more per cell; style branches exserted to 5 mm beyond the staminal column.

Fruit: Loculicidally dehiscent capsules 12-20 mm long X 12-17 mm in diam.; glabrous (?) or sparsely to densely appressed-pubescent; the beak 1-3 mm long; glabrous. Seeds 3-5 mm long X 2-3 mm wide; angular-reniform; light brown to brown with honeycombed markings and pectinate scales; the funiculus small; inconspicuous; light- to dark-brown; sometimes with a fringe of hairs.

Ploidy: 2n = 72

Habitat: Rare in dry forest and shrubland.

Elevation Range: 0–370 m.