Appearance
Growing to 45 cm tall and broad, it is an herbaceous perennial with alternate, simple, toothed leaves on erect, unbranched succulent stems and has a tuber root rhizome. The leaves are usually arranged opposite or in threes, simple and more or less wedge-shaped at the base, and frosted blue above; they are 2.5 to 10 cm long and 0.8 to 5 cm wide. The leaf margin is smooth or serrated towards the tip. Stipules are missing.The star-shaped pink flowers are borne in flat cymes 15 cm across from summer until first frost. The many-flowered, zymous inflorescence is about 7 to 11 cm wide. The hermaphrodite, radially symmetrical flowers have a diameter of about 1 cm and are usually five-fold. The sepals are about 1 cm long. The petals are usually 6 to 8.5 millimeters long. There are two circles 6 to 8 mm long stamens, which are significantly longer than the petals. The anthers are purple. The free carpels are about 3 mm long. The stylus is about 1.2 mm long. This self-fertile species is pollinated by insects.
The specific epithet "spectabile" means "showy".
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