Perennial, large herb; tuberous, horizontal rootstock, slightly aromatic; stem leafy, about 2 m tall; leaves oblong-lanceolate, glabrous, beneath, glossy on both sides; flowers small panicle or racemes terminal, many flowered, dense, branched panicle; bracts small, ovate, bracteoles sometimes enveloping the buds; calyx laxly tubular, shortly 3-toothed, greenish-white, oblique at the throat; corolla tube cylindric, not longer than calyx, segments linear-oblong, upper usually more broader and convex than laterals, margins incurved, lips distinctly clawed, basal glands ascending, reddish or spotted, linear subulate; stamens-1, filament long, connective shorter than anther, cells-2, divergent at the apex with an orbicular crest; ovary 3-celled, ovules few to many in each cell; fruit indehiscent capsule, dry or fleshy, globose, orange red, like a small cherry.