Subshrub or shrub, to 0.5(–0.9) m tall. Branches prostrate, or sprawling to decumbent, or erect; old stems brown, or grey; youngest branchlets brown, or red-brown, or black; internodes (0.5–)2– 10(–14.4) mm long; leaf decurrencies obscure; leafbase scars evident; stem pubescence absent or bifarious or uniform, eglandular. Leaf bud about as long as mature leaves with leaves of a pair separating when mature (or sometimes earlier); sinus absent, or small and acute. Leaves free at base, erecto-patent to patent; lamina narrowly to broadly elliptic or rarely sub-orbicular, subcoriaceous or coriaceous, flat to slightly concave, (2–)3.5–12(–15.5) mm long, (0.7–)2–5(–8.7) mm wide; apex acute to subacute or occasionally obtuse; base cuneate; evident venation in fresh leaves absent or consisting of midrib only; midrib not thickened or slightly thickened beneath; margin not thickened, rounded, glabrous or rarely minutely ciliolate; upper surface glaucous and light green (rarely mottled red), dull, with dense stomata, usually glabrous, or uniformly eglandular pubescent; lower surface glaucous and light green (rarely mottled red), dull, densely covered with stomata, usually glabrous, or uniformly eglandular pubescent. Inflorescences with 4–12(–24) flowers, lateral, racemose and unbranched, (0.8–)1.5–5.5(–7) cm long, longer than subtending leaves, flowers opening in acropetal sequence; peduncle (0.2–)0.4–2(–2.8) cm long, eglandular pubescent; rachis (0.2–)0.4– 1.7(–3) cm long, eglandular-pubescent; bracts opposite and decussate, free, ovate to lanceolate or elliptic, acute to subacute, eglandular ciliate or eglandular ciliolate and, on hairy-leaved plants, eglandular-hairy outside; pedicels usually absent or shorter than bracts (usually present only on lowermost flowers), when present eglandularpubescent, suberect at anthesis, suberect at fruiting, 0–1.2(–3.5) mm long. Flowers on individual plants all hermaphrodite. Calyx tapered at base, (2–)3.5– 4.5(–5.5) mm long, 4-lobed, equally divided; lobes ovate to lanceolate (rarely linear-lanceolate) or elliptic, acute to subacute, eglandular ciliate or eglandular ciliolate and, on hairy-leaved plants, hairy outside and sometimes hairy inside, margins green or pink. Corolla violet or blue to pale mauve at anthesis, violet or blue to pale mauve, sometimes fading to pale pink or almost white after pollination; tube glabrous, (1–)1.5(–2) mm long, 1.7–2(–2.5) mm wide, funnelform and sometimes contracted at base, shorter than calyx; lobes longer than corolla tube, glabrous; posterior lobe obovate to elliptic or sometimes lanceolate, acute to obtuse, patent to recurved (with age), with margin and apex flat or with margin inrolled; lateral lobes ovate to elliptic or sometimes lanceolate, subacute or acute or occasionally obtuse, patent to recurved (with age), cuneate at base, with margin and apex flat or with margin inrolled; anterior lobe elliptic (often narrowly) to lanceolate, usually subacute or obtuse or acute, patent to recurved (with age), with margin inrolled; corolla throat mauve to white. Stamen filaments mauve sometimes fading to almost white after anthesis, diverging after anthesis, straight at apex in bud, 3–4 mm long; anthers obtuse, pale pink or mauve or occasionally magenta, c. 1.9–2.1 mm long. Nectarial disc glabrous. Ovary ovoid, glabrous or eglandular hairy, (0.8–)1–1.2(–1.5) mm long; ovules 10–22 per locule, marginal in 11⁄2–2 layers on a flattened placenta; style (2–)3–4.5 mm long, c. 0.2 mm thick, glabrous or with unicellular hairs, pink to mauve; stigma no wider than style or subcapitate, mauve to yellow at anthesis, 0.15–0.2 mm wide. Capsules latiseptate, usually subacute, or acute or obtuse, pale to dark brown (sometimes red-brown), 3.5–5 mm long, 1.7–2 mm thick, 2.2–3.2 mm wide, with eglandular, unicellular hairs or glabrous, loculicidal split extending 1⁄4–1⁄2-way to base. Seeds flattened, ellipsoid, pale brown.

Subshrub, up to c. 30 cm tall, branches prostrate or sprawling to decumbent, sometimes forming a dense mat. Leaves narrow elliptic to elliptic, lamina (2.0–)3.5–8.9(–12.1) mm long, (0.7–)1.5–4.5(–5.2) mm wide, usually glabrous, but sometimes with one or both surfaces covered in short eglandular hairs. Inflorescences with 4–12 flowers. Flowers blue or violet to mauve, fading to mauve after pollination. Calyces and bracts ciliolate or ciliate on the margins and, on hairy-leaved plants, covered in eglandular hairs.

Small shrub, up to c. 70(–90) cm tall, branches ascending to erect. Leaves lanceolate or elliptic to subrotund, 7.5–15.5 mm long, (1.8–)3.1– 8.7 mm wide, glabrous. Inflorescences with 4–12(– 24) flowers. Flowers mauve, fading to pale pink or almost white after pollination. Calyces and bracts ciliolate or ciliate only.

A subspecies pimeleoides habitu erecto vel ascendenti usque ad 70(–90) cm alto, floribus pallide malvinis vel lilacinis differt.