Plants perennial, mat-forming, rhizomatous. Stems: flowering stems ascending, branched, 15-40 cm; nonflowering stems prostrate proximally, rooting readily, pu-bescence dense, white-tomentose, eglandular; small axillary tufts of leaves often present. Leaves not marcescent, sessile; blade linear to linear-lanceolate or linear-oblong, 10-60 × 2-8 mm, apex ± obtuse, pubescence dense, whitish-tomentose, eglandular on both surfaces. Inflorescences lax, 3-13-flowered cymes; bracts lanceolate, margins scarious, pubescent. Pedicels ascending, straight, 10-40 mm, 2-7 times as long as sepals, white-tomentose. Flowers 12-20 mm diam.; sepals narrowly lanceolate-elliptic, 5-7 mm, margins narrow, often scarious, apex acute, white-tomentose; petals obtriangular, 10-18 mm, 2-2.5 times as long as sepals, apex 2-fid; stamens 10; styles 5. Capsules cylindric, slightly curved, 10-15 mm, 1.5-2 times as long as sepals; teeth 10, erect, margins convolute. Seeds brown, ca. 1.5 mm, round tubercles on margins, faces shallowly rugose; testa not inflated. 2n = 72.
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Perennial, with caespitose rosette and prostrate non-flowering axillary branches, densely white-tomentose in all aerial vegetative parts. Flowering stems erect, 10-40 cm tall. Lvs lanceolate to linear, narrowed to base, 20-40-(50) × (2)-5-10 mm. Infl. lax; pedicels > sepals, densely tomentose. Bracts broad-oblong, with scarious margins, tomentose beneath and on margin. Sepals broad-oblong, with scarious margins, tomentose beneath, 4-7-(8) mm long. Petals c. 2× length of sepals. Styles (2.5)-3-4 mm long. Capsule cylindric, 2× length of calyx. Seeds c. 2 mm long, tuberculate.
With similarly large fls but differing in its tomentose herbage, occasionally escapes from cult., as does the very similar C. biebersteinii DC.
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