Dwarf shrub, up to 1 m high. Leaves mostly 6-8 mm long, alternate, erect-spreading, obtusely serrate and thickened at margins, with a raised nerve and scattered glands beneath. Flowers 2-5 together clustered at ends of very short, bracteolate stipes in axils of upper leaves, pale mauve and often dark-dotted; bracteoles 2. Sepals 0.75 mm long, deltoid-ovate, obtuse; minutely puberulous beneath. Petals 3.5 mm long, tapering to an obtuse base. Staminodes 2.75 mm long, tipped with a large gland. Disc inconspicuous, crenulate. Ovary distinctly raised on a stout stipe, glabrous, with (2)3 or 4(5) carpels with conical-oblong glandular processes; styles glabrous, much recurved. Flowering time July-Feb.
Resprouting shrub with warted branches to 1 m, pleasantly liquorice-scented. Flowers in small, axillary and terminal clusters, pale mauve often dark-dotted. Fruits 2(-5)-chambered, 1 or more often aborting.