Erect shrub to c. 2 m high. Leaves spreading above sheathing base, ovate to lanceolate, 3–20 mm long, 2–6(–10) mm wide, concave; apex acuminate, with mucro to 0.7 mm long. Flowers crowded in the upper 1–8 cm of stems; bracts and bracteoles collectively c. 5–10, acuminate, mucronate, ciliolate; sepals pink (occasionally white), erect to spreading, shortly united at base, narrowly triangular to lanceolate, 3.8–5.5 mm long; corolla pink (rarely white), often darker towards centre; tube 0.5–1.3 mm long; lobes narrowly triangular, 3–5 mm long, spreading at anthesis; stamens c. 3–4 mm long, anthers cohering around the style, papillose-hairy externally (very rarely glabrous), style shortly exceeding the anthers at maturity. Fruit 2–3 mm long. Flowers Jun.–Dec.