Evergreen shrub, 1.5-2.5 m tall, semiwoody; stems terete, smooth, bright green to purple green; leaves opposite, variegated, with yellow, large, ovate-obovate, acuminate, entire, up to 15 cm in length, with prominent, well defined yellow or ivory veins; flowers tubular, cylindric, yellow with red bracts, about 5 cm long, borne in terminal spikes; calyx 5-toothed, linear-lanceolate; corolla tubular, tube long, gradually widening towards the tip, lobes very small, obtuse; stamens-4, slightly exserted, filaments longer than corolla tube, slender, anthers obovoid, 2-celled, basifixed; ovary glabrous, style filiform, notched into bifid stigma; fruit dehiscent capsule loculicidal, valves elastically recurved; seeds ovoid, smooth, slightly compressed, often clothed with white hairs.