An erect, branched, bushy, smooth shrub or small tree 2 to 5 meters high. Leaves are oblong, 15 to 20 centimeters in length, pointed at the tip, and rounded at the base; the upper surface of the blade is green, and the lower surface usually a uniform dark purple. Cymes are terminal, panicled, and generally many-flowered; calyx is purple, pitcherlike, about 1 centimeter long, and 5-toothed; corolla is white or purplish, with long, slender, cylindric tube which is 6 to 8 centimeters long and about 2 millimeters in diameter; the limb is spreading, with oblong-elliptic lobes about 1.5 centimeters long. Fruit is ellipsoid, 1 to 1.5 centimeters long, and purplish; the persistent calyx, which is red is 1 to 1.5 centimeters long.

Antisudorific and tonic bath (leaves)

Bureau of Plant Industry

The leaves, in topicals, are used for healing wounds, and ulcers. A decoction of the leaves taken internally, and a cataplasm applied externally are good for flatulence.