Subshrub of the Hypericaceae family, native to the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, and southeastern Europe, where it colonizes rockeries, rocky slopes, open scrublands, and limestone cliffs, generally between 300 and 1,800 meters in altitude. Its natural range extends from Mediterranean shores to interior mountain ranges.
It forms rounded, dense, and well-branched bushy clumps, 20 to 40 cm in height, with an orderly and compact habit. The leaves are oval-elliptical, glaucous to blue-green, sometimes slightly glaucous, opposite and sessile, giving the entire foliage a soft and cool tone that remarkably highlights the brilliance of the flowers. These are large for the genus, bright and clear yellow, with five widely spread petals and a very full and radiant cluster of stamens, borne in sparsely branched terminal cymes.
In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from June to August depending on altitude and exposure. In cultivation, it generally occurs from June to July.
Very accommodating in the garden, it thrives in well-drained, poor to moderately fertile soil, in full sun. Excellent for dry rockeries, walls, and exposed embankments, it tolerates summer drought well once established. A light pruning after flowering maintains the compactness of the habit.