Brittle stemmed subshrub to 60 cm., often much smaller, with slender brown stem bearing numerous small branches ; leaves somewhat fleshy, weakly incurved, slightly viscid, with pungent fruity smell, light green on both surfaces ; flowering shoots more or less erect, dark purple tinged above, viscid ; calyx dark reddish purple ; corolla reddish purple, with weakly striate markings on lobes ; throat paler with dark lines ; stamens with dark filaments with pale hairs, or filaments pale and glabrous ;stigma and style purple