Erect pubescent, perennial herb, 60-90 cm tall, with quadrangular stem. Leaves oblong-ovate, or triangular-ovate, to sub-lanceolate, 2-3 cm long, 1-2 cm broad, coarsely serrate, uppermost sessile. Spikes dense, paniculately corymbose, flat or convex. Flowers deep rose-red, c. 8 mm across, sessile. Bracts linear-ovate, much smaller than calyx. Calyx-tube c. 1 cm long, cylindrical, 5-toothed and ribbed, glandular-hairy. Corolla-tube c. 1.5 cm long, glandular-hairy, limb 5-lobed, with patent, obovate, deeply emarginate lobes. Anther connectives appendaged. Fruit c. half as long as the calyx.

Type: S. America, Santa Fee, in dry pastures, Porto Alegro Bay, Tweedie 504 &505.

Distribution: A native of lower S. America, introduced and cultivated elsewhere.

Sometimes cultivated in gardens, as an ornamental, for its handsome blossoms of a deep rose-red colour.