An evergreen shrub up to 2 ft high of bushy shape, free from down. Leaves narrowly obovate, rounded at the apex, tapered to the base, 3⁄4 to 21⁄2 in. long, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. wide, dark dull green, not toothed. Flowers white or tinged with pink, fragrant, produced in crowded, flattish racemes 1 to 2 in. long and wide. Seed-pod 3⁄8 in. wide, 1⁄4 in. long, very slightly notched at the apex.
Native of S. Italy and Sicily, often in calcareous soil; introduced in 1679. In shape and size of leaf it resembles I. gibraltarica, but the latter is well distinguished by its toothed foliage, also by the more distinctly notched seed-pod. I. semperflorens is the tenderest of these shrubby candytufts. Suitable for sunny places on the south coast. Its flowering season is from November to April.