Herbs woody, 1-3 m tall. Stipule ovate-lanceolate, ca. 1 cm; petiole 0.8-3.5 cm, puberulent; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate, 7-10 × 2-4.5 cm, glabrous, basal veins 5, lateral veins 7-10 pairs, base rounded, margin serrulate, apex acuminate. Flowers solitary or 1-3 arranged in cymes, axillary, opposite to leaves; peduncle and pedicel short. Sepals oblong, hairy at base,
apex long awned. Petals oblong, as long as or slightly shorter than sepals, stalked at base; stalk ciliate. Stamens on very short androgynophore, glabrous. Ovary 5-loculed, hairy; style glabrous; stigma disk-shaped, lobed. Capsule cylindrical, slightly curved, 10-angled, robust, 5-6-valved, 3-8 cm, apex beaked, with single awn. Seeds obconic, slightly angled, separated by septum. Fl. summer-autumn.

Cultivated, weed of disturbed areas. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Yunnan [widely distributed throughout tropics].