Slender shrub, 1.5-2 m high; most parts stellate-pubescent. Leaves alternate; stipules lanceolate, ca 9 mm long; petioles 5-10 mm long; blades +/- elliptic, acute at apex, obtuse to subcordate at base, 4-13 cm long, 1.5-8 cm wide, irregularly serrate; reticulate veins obvious. Glomerules dense, axillary, globose; peduncles short; flowers 5-parted, sessile, subtended by several linear-obovate bracts to 6 mm long; calyx tubular, to 6 mm long, the lobes triangular-oval, ca 2 mm long, tomentulose; petals narrowly spatulate, 6 mm long, creamy white to somewhat yellowish; stamens 5, united into a tube for only 1 mm; filaments free for ca 4 mm; anthers at about the same height as calyx and corolla; style ca 3 mm long, simple. Fruits capsules, 2-carpellate, ovate, apiculate, 1-celled, l mm long and 0.5 mm wide, densely plumose-papillate (the trichomes to 1 mm long); seeds 2, ca 0.5 mm long, attached to septa at base of ovary. Croat 13477. Rare, known only from the shore on the north edge of Orchid Island, but to be expected in clearings and other disturbed areas. Flowers mostly from December to February. Mature fruits have been seen in March.