Perennial, erect, glabrous shrub; stem usually branched; stem as thick as a finger or wrist; leaves alternate, distichous, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, crowded at the end of branches, narrowed at base into a broad, channeled, dilated, amplexicaul petiole, green or purplish green; flowers subsessile, small, purple or liliac, subspicate or racemed on large, erect, branched panicles; pedicels short; bracts linear-lanceolate, bracteoles 3-nate, small; perianth tubular or campanulate, purple to white, cleft about 1/3 to the swollen base, segments-6, narrow, recurved; stamens 6, inserted at the base of perianth tube, anthers versatile, filaments filiform, shorter than perianth; ovary sessile, 3-celled, ovules many, in each cell, style filiform, stigma capitates; berry globose, fleshy, 3-lobed; seeds shining black.