Mat-forming spreading perennial to about 10 cm high. Leaves hairy with star-shaped and simple hairs, rhombic to obovate but with a narrow base (more or less kite-shaped). Stem leaves to 3 cm long, margins with 1-3 pointed teeth. Flowers to 2 cm wide, petals appearing deltoid, rose to purple, purplish blue or white, held above the foliage; mostly spring. Fruit to about 2 cm long with a persistent thin style to nearly 1 cm long.
Greece, Sicily, W Asia
The common name is generally spelled and pronounced with one more 'i' than the genus name.
Various cultivars have been named according to variations in the flower colour.
Source: (1997). Brassicaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
