Pentas zanzibarica subsp. milangiana (Verdc.) Verdc.

zanzibarica: from Zanzibar;
milangiana: from Mt Mulanje in Malawi, where the type specimen of this subspecies was found.

Robust, erect, shrubby perennial herb, up to 2 m tall, rarely taller. Stems moslty unbranched, often purplish, in this subspecies leafy and densely hairy. Leaves opposite or sometimes 3-whorled, 4-14.5 cm long, olanceolate, elliptic or ovate, hairy on both surfaces, in this subspecies with veins distinctly raised and hairy beneath; petiole up to 1 cm long. Flowers in fairly lax to subglobose, terminal and axillary heads, mostly lilac or mauve-blue, pink or white; corolla tube in this subspecies normally short, c. 5 mm long. Fruit a capsule, 3-5.5 mm long, pubescent, with a short beak, 1-2 mm long.

This subspecies is only known from montane areas in southern Malawi and northern Mozambique.