A deciduous, very leafy shrub up to 11⁄2 ft high, of prostrate habit, with slender arching young shoots 6 to 18 in. long covered with appressed hairs. Leaves simple, linear-oblong, or oblanceolate, pointed, 1⁄2 to 11⁄4 in. long, 1⁄10 to 1⁄6 in. wide, hairy on the margins and lower surface, often glabrous above. Flowers borne closely in the leaf-axils, either solitary, in pairs or in threes, bright yellow, 3⁄8 in. long, opening in May and June, and forming handsome, cylindrical leafy racemes 3 to 6 in. long; calyx silky-hairy. Pod up to 1 in. long by 1⁄4 in. wide, shaggy with appressed hairs, carrying three or four seeds.
Native of the mountains of S.E. Europe, quite hardy, very floriferous and handsome, forming low patches several feet across. The late Fred Stoker grew it beautifully in his rock garden in Essex. It is near C. decumbens in affinity which differs in its outstanding pubescence. It was given an Award of Merit in 1948 when shown by R. E. Heath of Petts Wood, Kent.