An evergreen shrub with lax, mostly non-twining stems; young shoots glabrous. Leaves leathery, densely arranged, mostly elliptic, 1 to 2 in. long, 3⁄16 to 5⁄8 in. wide, bright green above, paler beneath, glabrous on both sides, tapered at the base to a short, stout petiole. Inflorescence terminal and lateral, about 1 in. to almost 3 in. long, with up to fifteen flowers. Corollas about 1⁄2 in. across, lobes violet or brownish violet on the inside, linear. Follicles horizontal, or spreading at a very wide angle, 3 to 4 in. long, tapered evenly from the base to an acute apex.
Native of the Canary Islands; described in Aiton’s Hortus Kewensis (1789), from a plant introduced by Francis Masson.
P. angustifolia Labill. P. laevigata var. angustifolia (Labill.) Fiori; P. laevigata subsp. angustifolia (Labill.) Markgraf – Closely allied to P. laevigata, differing mainly in its narrower leaves, 5⁄8 to 11⁄8 in. long, about 1⁄8 in. wide, densely clustered on the lateral spurs. Native mainly of N. Africa, but extending into S.E. Spain, Malta, and some of the smaller islands of the central Mediterranean. It is also found in one locality in Syria, and it is from this that Labillardière described the species. As in P. laevigata, the follicles spread horizontally or almost so.