Gomphocarpus fruticosus subsp. fruticosus

Shrub to 2 m high; stems few, pubescent, glabrescent with age. Leaves opposite, sometimes alternate, linear-lanceolate, 4–12 cm long, 5–15 mm wide, apex acuminate, mucronate, base attenuate, margins thickened, soft, not prominently veined, glabrous; petiole 3–10 mm long. Inflorescences usually 5–10-flowered; peduncles mostly 2–4 cm long, erect, scabrous. Pedicels 10–20 mm long, scabrous, erect at anthesis, deflexed in fruit; sepals ovate-lanceolate, 3–5 mm long, free almost to base, pubescent; corolla-lobes ovate, 6–7 mm long, ciliate, white; corona-lobes incurved, white. Follicles ovoid, 4–6 cm long, 2–3.5 cm diam., slightly falcate, tapering into a short curved beak, erect at maturity, covered with soft spines to c. 1 cm long; seeds c. 6 mm long, c. 3 mm wide, coma hairs c. 3 cm long. Flowers Oct.–May.