Terrestrial shrub 0.3-3 m tall;  stem terete, glabrous, grayish with thin, exfoliating bark;  twigs terete to subterete or complanate and then bluntly to sharply angled, striate, puberulous.  Leaves thick-coriaceous, congested, oblong- to ovate-elliptic, 1.2-2.3 x (0.5-)0.6-1.5 cm, base rounded and sometimes subcordate, apex bluntly acute, obtuse, or rounded, margin slightly to conspicuously revolute, remotely crenate with each tooth terminating in a glandular hair ca. 0.3-0.4 mm long, glabrous or puberulent along midrib on both surfaces and ciliate, bearing scattered, brownish glandular-fimbriae beneath;  pinnately nerved with 2-3 lateral nerves per side, midrib impressed above and raised beneath, lateral nerves slightly impressed but inconspicuous above and obscure beneath, reticulate veinlets impressed above but inconspicuous and obscure beneath;  petiole subterete, flattened to shallowly canaliculate above, rugose, to 2 mm long, puberulent to short-pilose.  Inflorescence axillary, solitary, fasciculate, 1-2-flowered;  rachis none;  floral bract ovate, obtuse, ca. 2 mm long, marginally deciduously glandular-fimbriate;  pedicel subterete, sharply ribbed to striate, nitid, 5-12 mm long, glabrous;  bracteoles nearly basal to medial, ovate, acuminate-aristate, ca. 2 mm long, ciliate, marginally glandular-fimbriate.  Flowers 5-merous, with calyx articulate, 6-8 mm long, short-pilose to puberulent;  hypanthium cylindric, terete to ribbed or bluntly 5-angled, rugose, 2.5-3 mm long, bearing scattered, flat, reddish, glandular-fimbriae, green to dull red, limb conspicuously campanulate-spreading, 3-5 mm long;  lobes triangular-ovate, acuminate to apiculate, 1-2.3 mm long, sometimes splitting irregularly;  sinuses acute to rounded;  corolla cylindric, rarely ± zygomorphic but somewhat curving upwards distally, 16-20 mm long and ca. 6 mm diam., glabrous to puberulent or sometimes densely short-pilose, also bearing scattered, reddish, glandular fimbriae to 1.5 mm long, dull to bright red to paler red distally with white lobes, the lobes oblong-triangular, bluntly acute, 2-5 mm long;  stamen 10, slightly alternately unequal, 13-15 mm long;  filaments connate into a tube 4-4 mm long, short-pilose distally and onto the connective;  anthers 10-12 mm long;  thecae smooth, 4.5-6.5 mm long;  tubules distinct to base, 5-5.5 mm long, dehiscing by clefts 3-3.5 mm long;  style equal to corolla or normally shortly exserted, 22-25 mm long, glabrous.  Berry spherical, 8-11 mm diam., violet to blue-black.

    Distribution.  Colombia and Ecuador;  montane wet forest, elfin forest, subpáramo, to grass and Espeletia páramo, at 3000-4000 m altitude.

    Uses:  Ecuador:  fruit edible, sweet.