Herbs up to 1.5 m tall. Roots tuberous. Stem dichotomous, glabrous to minutely pubescent, often swollen at the nodes, reddish, glaucescent and flaccid. Leaves ovate, 5-12 X 2-6 cm, acuminate, puberulous, base slightly oblique. Involucral bracts ovate, united at the base, c. 9 mm long, sepaloid, puberulous and nervose. Flowers subsessile, in clusters of 4-5; pedicel c. 2 mm long. Perianth tube 2.5-3(-3.5) cm long, puberulous outside, limb plicately 5-lobed; lobes emarginate. Stamens 5, exserted; filaments c. 4 cm long, reddish, lower half adnate to the tube, basally connate and surrounding the ovary. Ovary 1.5 mm long, ovoid; ovule solitary, basal, surrounded by a few linear scales. Style reddish; stigma capitate. Anthocarp 9 mm long, ovoid, 5-ribbed, black, tuberculate. Nut subglobose, c. 7 mm long.