Hemiparasitic perennial herb, multi-stemmed, to approximately 40 cm tall; stem pubescence unbranched, whitish-gray tomentose; leaves alternate, sparsely scabrous-hispid above, moderately scabrous-hispid below; lower and middle leaves lanceolate, entire, involute; upper leaves entire or deeply cleft to the middle of the blade similar to floral bracts; inflorescence short, 8 to 10 cm long, 15-20 flowered, tomentose; floral bracts 20-25 mm long, 3-5 lobed, deeply cleft to below the mid-point, 3-nerved, red-tipped or occasionally red-orange tipped, green proximally; calyx approximately 17-20 mm long, tomentose, green proximally, red distally, deeply cleft to the mid-point with acute, linear-lanceolate lobes on each side, the side lobes being cleft about 4 mm or about 1/5 the length of the calyx; corolla 20-22 mm long, exserted from the calyx by 4-5 mm, 2 lipped; galea bright green, tomentose, extending approximately 5 mm past the lower lip; lower lip vestigial with peach-reddish coloring between the lower lip and the galea; style exserted about 2 mm; fruit an ovoid, bilocular capsule. Flowering June to October in response to monsoon precipitation. Likely hummingbird pollinated.