A glabrous, upright, upto 1.25 m tall undershrub. Leaves late-ovate to elliptic-ovate to obovate, 3-8 x 2-4 cm, basally rounded, distantly serrate, acute, apiculate. Flowers purple-blue to dark blue, up to c. 6 cm long, c. 4 cm across, usually solitary axillary; Bracts 15 x 10 mm, deciduous. Calyx teeth c. 15, subulate, glandular hairy. Corolla tube ± curved yellowish-white or white, glandular hairy outside, lobes subequal, c. 1.5 cm long, obtuse. Staminal filaments glandular-hairy; anthers oblong, c. 4 mm long, bearded, mucronate. Style c. 3.5 cm long; stigma 2-lobed, upper lobe upright, lower patent.

Fl. Per.: November-March.

Type: Described from Niger.

Distribution: A native of W. Tropical Africa, introduced and widely grown in gardens in tropical countries.

Cultivated for its large showy flowers in Karachi and elsewhere.