Stiff, erect shrub to 3 m high; bark generally hard. Leaves oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic, 3–7 cm long, 5–8 mm wide, apex usually shortly acuminate and pungent, venation generally visible on both surfaces and glands sometimes prominent. Flower spikes 6–10 cm long, 4–7 cm wide; hypanthium mostly hairy at first, often becoming glabrous; stamens bright red, rarely purplish, 15–25 mm long, anthers dark purplish-red. Capsules 4–7 mm long and wide. Flowers Nov.–Dec
VVP, GipP, OtP, Gold, CVU, EGL, EGU, HSF, HNF, MonT, HFE, VAlp. Also Qld, NSW. Mostly at margins of lowland swamps and wet heathlands of the east, where locally common, but occasionally extending along watercourses to moderate altitudes.
