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Robust biennial of the Malvaceae family, sometimes classified under the name Lavatera arborea, native to the rocky coasts and maritime cliffs of Western and Mediterranean Europe, from the British Isles to the Mediterranean basin. It thrives in disturbed environments, coastal screes, old walls, and nitrophilous soils near the sea, often in the company of seabird colonies whose droppings enrich the soil.
Its habit is distinctly architectural. In the first year, it forms a rosette of large, soft, rounded, slightly lobed leaves, grayish-green and softly downy. In the second year, it sends up one or more vigorous, semi-woody stems that can reach 1.5 to 2.5 meters, branching like a candelabra and covered with flowers from bottom to top.
The flowers, abundantly borne along the branches, are a deep pink-purple, traversed by very marked dark violet veins radiating from an almost black center, giving each corolla a veined pattern of great intensity. This network of dark streaks on a magenta background is one of the most immediately striking features of the species.
In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from June to August. In cultivation, it can start as early as May and continue until September. It reseeds easily and often behaves as a spontaneous biennial in the garden. It requires full sun, well-drained soil, even poor, and perfectly withstands dry heat and sea spray. Its hardiness is limited to mild winters, around -5°C at most; in regions with colder winters, it is treated as a biennial annually renewed by sowing, which it often accomplishes generously on its own.