It has many medium to tall unbranched stems with long narrow leaves, clothed densely in short hair (tomentose), and dark (ssp characias) or yellow (ssp wulfenii) floral
nectar glands within the yellow cup-like
cyathia, which are borne in large dense spherical to oblong clusters, from spring to early summer. The fruits are smooth densely-hairy capsules. It is a tough plant, capable of resisting long periods of
drought. It grows preferably in dry areas, often far away from the
water table, both in flat as well as in mountainous terrain. This plant can also resist high
salinity. ==Subspecies==