A robust, unbranched herb, 30-200 cm tall, glabrous. Leaves are fleshy, leathery when older, earlier ones simple, ovate, with cordate or rounded base, upper ones pinnate, 3-5-foliolate, 5-9(-20) cm x 2.5-5 cm, base cuneate, apex obtuse, margin crenate, petiole semi-amplexicaulous. Inflorescence a lax terminal cyme, 10-80 cm long; flowers pendulous, with a cylindrical calyx, up to 25 mm x 8 mm, slightly indented at the base, lobes ovate-triangular, 7-12 mm long, very acutely acuminate, corolla tube cylindrical, about 30 mm long, strongly constricted at about 8 mm from the base, corolla lobes oblong-ovate, about 6 mm long, abruptly long-acuminate, in lower half green, in upper half red. Fruit is a follicle with many seeds.

Used as an astringent and antiseptic (leaves)

The Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI)
PROSEA (Plant Resources of South-East Asia) Foundation

As a poultice in the treatment of boils, wounds, burns and scalds, and as a counterirritant against poisonous insect bites (leaves); mixed with lard and is used for diarrhea, dysentery, cholera and phthisis (leaf juice); applied as poultice to the soles of the feet in order to stop hemorrhages (pounded leaves)