Erect shrub 0.3-0.4 m tall;  mature stems subterete, glabrous;  bark cracking into rectangular strips, grayish- to reddish-brown;  twigs subterete, ribbed, striate, puberulent and also strigose with eglandular, basally swollen, straight to crisped, appressed, thick setae ca. 2 mm long;  buds ovate, complanate, scales glabrous but ciliolate.  Leaves thick-coriaceous, elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 1.3-2 x 0.6-1.2 cm, base rounded or obtuse, apex acute and obtusely callose-apiculate, margin coarsely and bluntly serrate with the margin itself usually much thickened, glabrous above and glabrous or with a few scattered setose hairs (as stems) beneath;  venation conspicuous on both surfaces, midrib plane to slightly impressed above and raised beneath, lateral nerves 3(-4) per side and along with reticulate veinlets slightly raised and conspicuous on both surfaces;  petiole thick, subterete, rugose, somewhat flattened and weakly puberulent above, 2-4 mm long, weakly setose.  Inflorescence usually with flowers solitary in axils of normal upper leaves (also bearing on same plant few-flowered racemes with up to 4 flowers, then rachis short, densely puberulent and also setose with long coarse, eglandular hairs);  pedicel subterete, striate, 10(-20) mm long, densely puberulent, also strigose or hirsute with eglandular, straight to crisped, appressed, thick setae;  bracteoles up to 9 in number, usually 3-5 clustered at base of pedicel and ca. 2.5 x 2 mm long, and another 3-4 scattered distally and ca. 4-6 x 2.5 mm, membranous, striate, oblong to elliptic, acute, ± mucronate, glabrous, ciliate;  floral bract indistinguishable from basal bracteoles.  Flowers with calyx 5-9 mm long, lobes narrowly triangular to ovate, (5-)6.2-7 x 2.5-3.7 mm, long-acuminate, reaching well above middle of corolla, somewhat striate, ciliate and often puberulent at distal tips, weakly short-pilose within;  corolla urceolate, much inflated at base, narrowly constricted at throat, apparently 5-angled or ribbed, 9-12 x 6-8 mm, red, glabrous without and only very sparsely short-pilose within,  lobes oblong, obtuse;  stamens 5-6.5 mm long;  filaments 3.5-5.2 mm long, glabrous;  anthers 1.5-2.4 mm long, awns conspicuous;  ovary densely puberulent;  style 4-7.2 mm long, glabrous.  Fruiting calyx not seen.

     Distribution (Map).  Endemic to Colombia and known with certainty from the Farallones de Cali region of Valle department, in páramo thickets, at elevations of 3550-3750 m.  Flowering in Jan, Aug, and Oct.  Rare and probably endangered.