Stems rather weak. Leaves ovate to 3 inches long, softly hairy, narrowed to petiole. Leaf color is light to medium green. Flowers in terminal drooping spikes to 6 inches long or more. Bracts are rust, orange, or copper colored.
Bracts look like shrimp.
Profuse flowering habit winter and spring but seems to have flowers most of the year. Tender to half hardy, takes full sun, but tends to do better in partial shade. Good foundation plant, accent shrub, mass. Shrub or tree to 30 feet tall and 25 to 30 ft wide. Called evergreen but may go partially deciduous.