The leading characters of this species are: leaves green and conspicuously reticulate above, thinly stellate-tomentose beneath, basal leaves lanceolate to ovate or oblong, cordate at the base, 1[1/2] to 4 in. long, 2 to 1[5/8] in. wide (but proportionately shorter and broader in var. bailanica (Vieh.) Hub.-Mor.). Flowers more or less as in P. fruticosa, intense yellow on cultivated plants. A key difference is that the bracteoles subtending the flowers are awl-shaped or linear-lanceolate against broadly oblanceolate in P. fruticosa.
A native of southern Anatolia, Cyprus, Syria and the Lebanon. It is now being introduced into gardens and is strikingly different from P. fruticosa in its bright green leaves and intense yellow flowers.