Perennial of the Saxifragaceae family, belonging to the Porophyllum section, this species is native to the Balkan Peninsula and south-central Italy, where it colonizes limestone rocks, cliffs, and rock crevices, generally between 1,000 and 2,000 meters in altitude.
It forms small low tufts of encrusted, silvery rosettes, with short, rigid leaves edged with white limestone, which remain close to the ground. It is during flowering that the plant takes on its full character, with the emergence of erect, slender but well-visible stems, densely covered with reddish to purple glandular hairs that give them a hairy and colorful appearance even before the flowers open.
The flowers are drooping, tubular with slightly open petals, of a deep purple-pink to carmine, gathered in unilateral drooping cymes at the top of the stems. The whole inflorescence, with hairy stems and purple buds, produces a striking effect that strongly contrasts with the silvery discretion of the basal rosettes.
In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from March to May depending on altitude and exposure. In cultivation under cold shelter, it can bloom as early as the end of winter.
It requires a limestone substrate, very well-drained, in a sunny exposure, with protection against excessive winter moisture on the foliage. It is ideally cultivated in a trough or under cold glass, in the manner of saxifrages of the Engleria section to which it is closely related.