Description: Evergreen erect shrubs, ca. 1-5m tall, glabrate. Stems woody. Branchlets terete, sparsely stellate pilose. Leaves simple, alternate, spiral; Stipules ca. 5-12 mm, filiform, hairy; petiole 0.5-2 cm long; lamina ca. 3-8 x 2-4 cm, ovate or elliptic-ovate, tapering at base, acuminate at apex, serrate-dentate along margins, glabrous or with few hairs on the veins beneath; secondary nerves 3-5 pairs. Flowers solitary, axillary on upper branches; pedicels ca. 1-7 cm, sparsely stellate pilose, articulate near apex; Epicalyx lobes 5-8, filiform, connate at base, 8-15 mm, sparsely stellate, apex obtuse or acute, Calyx campanulate, ca. 2 cm, stellate puberulent, lobes 5, ovate to lanceolate, Corolla ca. 4-9 cm across, pinkish to red, with or without dark centre; petals 5, twisted, obovate, pilose abaxially, apex rounded; staminal column ca. 4-8 cm long, exserted, antherifierous near the apex; anthers monothecous, reniform. Capsules ca. 2.5 cm long, glabrous, apex beaked. Flowering & Fruiting: Throughout the year

Habitat: Cultivated in gardens.

Distribution: Asia: China, India, Nepal, Pakistan; Africa.

Uses:  Leaves, flowers and seeds used in Ayurveda, Unani, Sidha and folk medicine. Fresh petals used for blackening hairs and eye-brows. Flowers check menstruation bleedings; buds cure seminal weaknesses.