The bud-stage inflorescence of Coleus neochilus grown from a stem-tip initially has its keeled bracts densely and evenly imbricate or overlapping. Only the tips veer away from the otherwise narrowly ellipsoid body.

The black bract tips drop off early, the last ones seen around the top of the structure. The bract margins are strongly ciliate, while bract and leaf surfaces are finely short-haired (Pooley, 1998; iNaturalist).