Plants woody, shrubs or trees, 3-10 m tall; branches finely pubescent when young, later glabrous. Leaves alternate, subsessile; blades lanceolate, 3.5-4.5 cm long, 10-14 mm wide, glaucous, finely and obscurely pubescent near the base, otherwise glabrous, tip more or less indurated. Inflorescence capitate, with many flowers, terminal on short leafy branches; involucral bracts 8-12, in 2 series, almost as long as the flowers, broadly elliptic, obtuse, densely and finely pubescent. Flowers 5-merous, pedicellate; pedicels about 2mm long, Perianth tube 1.2-2 cm long, not articulated, prominently ridged internally, densely villous externally, particularly at the base, hairs stiff, erect, yellowish. Calyx lobes about 1/4 the length of the perianth tube, spreading during flowering, oblong-elliptic, with rounded tips, villous externally, particularly on the midline, with a tuft of hairs projecting beyond the tip, margins pubescent. Petals about 1/4 the length of the calyx lobes, linear to more or less braodly spathulate, entire or bi- to trifid at the top. Ovary superior, covered in long, stiff, erect, hairs; style about 6mm long; stigma capitate.