A deciduous shrub 3 to 5 ft high, with bristly young shoots. Leaves ovate-oblong, rounded or broadly tapered at the base, short-pointed or often blunt at the apex, 11⁄2 to 21⁄2 in. long, about half as wide, hairy on the margins, and more or less so on both surfaces; dark green above, greyish beneath; stalk 1⁄8 in. long. Flowers produced at the base of the young shoots at the end of May; corolla funnel-shaped, about 1 in. long, 5⁄8 in. wide at the mouth, yellow or yellowish white, the tube longer than the lobes. Each pair of flowers is subtended by two roundish ovate membranous bracts up to 1 in. long, edged with bristles; stalk 1⁄3 to 1⁄2 in. long, bristly.
Native of Turkestan; introduced early last century. Interesting on account of the large bracts.
var. bracteata (Royle) Rehd. ex Airy Shaw L. bracteata Royle – Leaves oblong-lanceolate to oblong, apex drawn out, softly downy. Introduced by Kingdon Ward from S.E. Tibet in 1924. Bot. Mag., t. 9360.
L. setifera Franch. – This species, belonging to the same group as L. hispida, was introduced by Kingdon Ward from the Assam Himalaya in 1924 (KW 5688), and is also in cultivation in H. G. Hillier’s collection at Jermyns House, Romsey, from seeds collected by Rock in China under field number 13520. Stems bristly. Leaves usually coarsely toothed, oblong-lanceolate, 13⁄4 to 3 in. long, downy on both sides. Flowers borne before the leaves. Corolla regular, straw-coloured or pinkish, bristly inside and out. Ovary glandular and bristly.