Perennial from the Asteraceae family, native to southern Europe, from the Iberian Peninsula to the Balkans and Asia Minor, where it settles on dry lawns, rock gardens, and well-exposed rocky slopes, mainly at the collinean and lower montane levels.
It forms dense and low mats, reaching 15 to 20 cm in height, with finely pinnate evergreen foliage covered with a whitish woolly tomentum that gives it its epithet and a downy feel to the touch. This dense, mat-forming gray-green foliage is an immediately noticeable distinctive feature.
The flowers are gathered in small bright yellow capitula, grouped in compact and flattened corymbs that rise clearly above the carpet of leaves. The contrast between the grayish foliage and the bright yellow corymbs is particularly striking.
Blooming occurs from May to July. In cultivation, it requires full sun and a very well-drained soil, dry in summer; it does not tolerate heavy and damp soils in winter. Suitable for rock gardens, walls, and dry borders, it is very hardy in conditions that suit it.