Annual herbs, 0.5-1 m tall, sparsely stellate hairy. Petiole 1-2.5 cm; leaf blade linear-lanceolate, 5-10 × 1-2 cm, base broadly cuneate, rounded or truncate, margin crenate, apex acuminate. Flowers opening at noon, closing at dawn. Calyx lobes lanceolate, ca. 1 cm, abaxially stellate velutinous and hispid. Petals red, broadly ovate, ca. 12 mm. Staminodes tongue-shaped, 12-13 × ca. 1 mm. Ovary ovoid, villous; ovules 8-12 per cell; style filiform, glabrous, ca. 1 cm. Capsule nearly globose, ca. 1.2 cm in diam., densely stellate hairy and hispid, shorter than persistent calyx. Fl. summer-autumn.

Pentapetes phoenicea is a plant of tropical Asia that is cultivated for its bright red flowers. It has become naturalized in many areas such that the native distribution is now obscured.

Cultivated, requires moist conditions. Guangdong, Guangxi, Sichuan, S Yunnan [Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; N Australia; naturalized in Central America].