Plant: shrub or tree; 2-7(-10) m high, the trunks to 50 cm in diameter Leaves: 2-3 per node, 7-12 cm long, glabrous or the dorsal veins and margins minutely scabrous; blades narrowly to broadly elliptic or ovate, narrowed to short petioles, more or less attenuate at apices; stipules very small, scarious, triangular or lunate, entire or fimbriate INFLORESCENCE: heads 3-3.5 cm in diameter, solitary or cymosely clustered at ends and upper nodes of branches; peduncles 2.5-9 cm long Flowers: calyx densely pubescent within, shallowly and somewhat irregularly lobed; corolla 8 mm long, white or yellowish, more or less pubescent within, the tube slender, longer than throat and ovate obtuse lobes; anthers included; styles much exserted (to 4 mm) Fruit: dry and hard, splitting from the base at maturity into 2-4 1-seeded achene-like portions, turbinate, irregularly compressed, falling when ripe, the heads 2 cm in diameter Misc: Near streams, washes, and desert lakes; rocky creek beds REFERENCES: Dempster, Lauramay T. 1995. Rubiaceae. J. Ariz. – Nev. Sci. 29(l): 29.