Erect shrub, up to 2.5 m high with papery fibrous bark. Young branches pubescent. Leaves 2-4 x 1-2 cm, obovate to elliptic-oblong, obtuse, base rounded or cuneate, hairy or glabrescent above, more or less softly pilose beneath. Flowers in axillary pairs on thin slender peduncles, 0.5-2 cm long. Bracts c. 5 mm long, linear, longer than ovary. Bracteoles connate in pairs, small. Calyx c. 3 mm, lobes minute, truncate, glabrous. Corolla 10-15 mm long, tube long, narrow, prominently gibbous at the base, lobes subequal, rounded, hairy within and without, purple; stamens c. as long as corolla; style exerted. Berries c. 5 mm long, globose, confluent or not, red-black.

Fl. Per.: June-July.

Type: W. Himalaya, Pir Panjal, 3673 m, Jacquemont 1204 (P).

Distribution: Afghanistan, N.W. Himalaya eastward to India, Nepal, Bhutan & Sikkim.

Common as forest undergrowth in temperate regions of Hindu Kush to Himalaya between 2500-4000 m.