Perennial herbs or shrubs, erect, 1--3 m tall, evergreen. Branches spreading, often lianous. Petiole base sometimes auriculate; leaf blade ovate, (3--)5--8(--13) X (1.8--)2.5--4(--7) cm, thin, base cuneate to obtuse, apex acuminate and mucronate. Inflorescences spicate-racemose, (3--)5--70-flowered; peduncle 0.5--1.5 cm, glandular; rachis glandular, (2--)3--8(--15) cm; bracts subovate, 4--6(--8) X (1--)1.5--2(--2.5) mm, apex acuminate; bractlets linear, ca. 2 X 0.5 mm. Calyx 1.0--1.2 cm, to 1.3 cm after anthesis, glandular almost throughout, tube ca. 2 mm in diam. at middle. Corolla white to pale bluish white, tube 1.8--2.2 cm, limb 1.6--1.8 cm in diam.; lobes obovate to oblong-lanceolate, ca. 7 X (2--)4 mm, apex mucronate to acuminate. Anthers blue, ca. 2 mm. Ovary ellipsoid, 5-angular. Style glabrous. Capsules pale yellow-brown, oblong. Seeds red-brown, ca. 7 X 1.5 X 0.6 mm, apex acute. Fl. Oct-Mar, fr. Dec-Apr. 2n = 28.

100--1600 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, S Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, Taiwan [Hawaii, Old World tropics]