Karomia speciosa is an African deciduous large shrub or bushy tree up to 7 m, and relocated to the family Lamiaceae from Verbenaceae.

Producing showy, mauve and purple flowers in profusion, the species is either single- or multi-stemmed, with pale, smooth grayish-brown bark.

[4] Branchlets woody, terete, shortly and softly pubescent, marked with pale lenticels ; internodes about 2 cm.

long ; peduncles slender, softly pubescent; lower bracts more or less leafy, spathulate-obovate, up to 7 mm.

long, with broadly rounded lobes, the latter rigidly membranous in the fruiting stage and expanding to 25 cm.