Terrestrial shrub to 3 m tall;  stems to 3 cm diam., glabrous;  bark longtitudinally cracked and grooved, grayish-brown when dry.  Leaves coriaceous, subsessile and somewhat clasping when fresh, oblong, elliptic-lanceolate, 13-28 x 4-11 cm, basally obtuse to rounded, cordate-auriculate, apically obtuse to rounded, glabrous above but short-pilose beneath;  pinnately veined with 3-4 prominent, arcuate-ascending lateral nerves on each side, sometimes appearing plinerved with lateral nerves arising 3 to 5 cm above the base, midrib and lateral nerves strongly impressed above and raised beneath, veinlets slightly impressed or raised on both surfaces, inconspicuous;  petiole subterete, rugose, glabrate, 3-6 mm long.  Inflorescence axillary, solitary, fasciculate, 7-12-flowered, the fruits maturing only after the leaves have fallen;  rachis 2-3 mm long, consisting of overlapping nodes;  floral bracts and bracteoles persistent, chartaceous, ovate, acuminate, short-pilose, ca. 1.5-2 mm long;  pedicels terete, swollen distally, striate, 3-4 mm long, short-pilose, reddish-orange when fresh.  Flowers with the calyx short-pilose, 6-7 mm long, reddish-orange when fresh;  hypanthium cylindric, bluntly 5-angled when dry, ca. 3 mm long;  limb campanulate-cylindric, 3-4 mm long including the lobes;  lobes apiculate, less than 1 mm long;  sinuses broadly rounded;  corolla cylindric, bluntly 5-angled, short-pilose, ca. 24 mm long, reddish-orange when fresh, the lobes triangular, acute, 2-3 mm long, green when fresh;  stamens 10, alternately ca. 7.5 and 8.5 mm long;  filaments connate, equal, 3.5-4 mm long;  connective marginally pilose;  anthers alternately ca. 5 and 6.5 mm long including the tubules;  thecae ca. 2.5 mm long.  Fruit not seen.

    Distribution.  Endemic to Colombia (Antioquia), and known only from ca. 6 collections.  Rare and endangered.