Bridson, D. & M. Thulin (2006) Rubiaceae in Flora of Somalia 3: 97-110
Plants evergreen shrubs 0.4-1 mm tall; young stems voered with short velvety hairs; Leaves stipulate, simple; stipule limbs about 2 mm long, triangular truncate, with tips 2-8 mm long; blades narrowly elliptic, 3.5-8 cm long. 0.9-2 cm wide, leathery; lateral veins in 5-6(-7) main pairs lower surfaces whitish, finely velvety pubescent; upper surfaces with scattered short hairs and dark bacterial nodules; bases cuneate or attenuate, merging into the petioles; margins recurved; tips acute or obtuse. Inflorescences usually with 10-20 flowers, corymbose, 1.2-4 cm across (excluding the corollas, compact or open, primary branches 1-8 mm long, secondary branches absent or present; pedicels 2-4 mm long, pubescent. Flowers said to smell like untreated wool; calyces with limbs 1-1.5 mm long, shallowly toothed or divided to the middle or lower, the lobes triangular; corollas with tubes 21-26 mm long and lobes 5-6 mm long and about 2 mm wide. Fruits about 5 mm in diameter.
Pavetta ventenata grows in evergreen bushland and Buxus scrub at elevations of 1460-1675 m in region N1 of fhte Flora of Somalia. It was not known to grow elsewhere in2006.