Erect or ascending herbs up to 40 cm. high or more; stems sub- quadrangular, glabrous below, the upper portions bifariously hirsute, the hairs about 0.3 mm. long, curved; leaf blades oblong-elliptical, up to 13 cm. long and 5.2 cm. wide, acute or short-acuminate (the tip itself obtuse), narrowed at base and decurrent on the petiole, rather firm and leathery, entire or undulate, the upper surface glabrous, drying dull green, minutely alveolar, the costa and lateral veins (6 to 8 pairs) obscure, the cystoliths conspicuous under a lens, up to 0.24 mm. long, the lower surface drying light olive-green, glabrous except costa and lateral veins, these conspicuous, moderately puberu- lous, the hairs curved, up to 0.11 mm. long, subappressed; petioles 5 mm. long, appressed-puberulous; spikes solitary or in 3's, rigid, up to 5 cm. long and 4 mm. broad, the peduncles slender, up to 2.4 cm. long, sharply quadrangular, 0.75 mm. thick gradually increased to 1.75 mm. at base of first pair of bracts, there somewhat flattened, hirsute, the hairs straight or curved, spreading or ascending, septate, the rachis flattened, the lower internodes about 6 mm. long, the others successively shorter toward tip of the spike, the hairs similar to those of the peduncles; bracts ovate, 3 mm. long, 1.5 mm, wide, acute, firm, hirsute, the hairs about 0.2 mm. long, erect, septate, some of them cyathiform, the margins ciliate, the costa prominent, the cysto- liths conspicuous; bractlets ovate, 1.75 mm. long, 0.75 mm. wide, acute, the pubescence that of the bracts; calyx 6 mm. long, the segments rigid, lanceolate, 4 mm. long, 1 mm. wide slightly above middle, acute, glabrous or bearing a few cyathiform hairs, sparingly ciliate, the costa and a pair of lateral nerves prominent; corolla lilac, densely puberulous with spreading glandular hairs about 0.8 mm. long, except the lower portion, this glabrous, the tube 6 mm. long, the basal portion 2.5 mm. broad, narrowed at middle to 2 mm., thence enlarged to 2.5 mm. at throat, the lips subequal, about 6 mm. long, the upper lip triangular-ovate, 3 mm. broad at base, obtuse and apiculate at tip, the lower lip cuneiform, 5 mm, wide near tip, 3-lobed, the lobes orbicular, the middle one 2.5 mm. wide, the lateral ones 1.75 mm. wide, all rounded, the throat swollen and plaited; stamens exserted 5 mm. beyond the mouth of the corolla, the lobes 1 mm. long, superposed and contiguous, attached vertically to the connective, the lower cell spurred, the spur ligulate, curved, flattened, rounded at tip, the filaments flattened, their ventral surface densely glandular- puberulous; style about as long as the stamens; ovary glabrous; capsules slenderly clavate, 1 cm. long, 2 mm. broad, 1.5 mm. thick, puberulous, the hairs appressed, about 0.1 mm. long, the retinacula 1.5 mm. long; seed (immature) flattened, 2.5 mm. long, 1.5 mm. wide, rounded at tip, obliquely subcordate at base, glabrous.
Type in the U. S. National Herbarium, No. 1850311, collected in the valley of the Río Cubugón, between El Caraño and El Indio, in the vicinity of Sarare, Department of Norte de Santander, Colombia, 470 to 600 meters altitude, November 12, 1941, by J. Cuatrecasas (No. 13061).
Justicia stereostachya can be easily recognized by its rigid spikes, densely glandular corollas with swollen plaited throat, and by the leathery leaf blades.