Barleria cavaleriei H. Léveillé; B. ciliata Roxburgh; B. cristata var. mairei H. Léveillé; B. dichotoma Roxburgh; B. laciniata Nees; B. napalensis Nees.

Subshrubs to 2 m tall. Stems terete, branched, covered with soft trichomes. Petiole (0-)0.3-1 cm; leaf blade elliptic to oblong to ovate, 2-10 × 1-4 cm, both surfaces villous especially along veins, secondary veins 4-7 on each side of midvein, base cuneate and decurrent onto petiole, apex acute to sometimes acuminate. Inflorescences axillary short and dense cymes, shortly pedunculate; bracts absent; bracteoles variable, linear to linear-lanceolate, 2.4-6.5 × 0.5-1.5 cm, 3-7-veined, base cuneate, margin usually spiny but sometimes bristly pilose and becoming spinescent with age, apex acuminate. Outer calyx lobes ovate to narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, 1.2-2.5 × 0.5-1.3 cm, pilose, reticulately veined, margin spiny, apex mucronate; inner calyx lobes linear to lanceolate, 6-12 mm, 1-veined, margin scarious. Corolla purplish blue, 4.5-6.5 cm, outside pilose; tube basally narrowly cylindric then gradually widened; lobes oblong-elliptic, ca. 1.5 cm, equal. Stamens 4, didynamous; filaments pilose especially toward base; staminode 1, filament sparsely pilose. Ovary oblong-ellipsoid, glabrous; style linear, ca. 2.5 cm, glabrous; stigma slightly inflated. Capsule 1.2-1.8 cm, glabrous, 4-seeded. Seeds subglobose to ovoid, 4-5 × ca. 4 mm. Fl. May, Aug-Dec, fr. May, Oct. 2n = 40.

Barleria cristata is a medicinal and ornamental plant.

Roadsides, slopes, along streams, in xeric vegetation; below 100-2600 m. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Sichuan, Taiwan, ?Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam].