Shrub, 1.5–3 m high; branches white or greyish tomentose when young, becoming glabrous, often c. weeping. Leaves narrow-ovate to oblong-ovate, 4–20 cm long, 1–8 cm wide, base cuneate, margin crenate to minutely serrate-dentate, dark green and mostly glabrous above, densely white-tomentose below; petiole 0.1–0.5 cm long. Inflorescences 12–20 cm long. Flowers sweetly scented, sessile to shortly pedicellate; calyx c. 3 mm long; lobes acute or acuminate, c. 1.5 mm long; corolla white (in cultivation), or violet to lilac or less often purple, with orange-yellow throat, 8–14 mm long, tube 6–11 mm long; lobes orbicular, spreading; stamens inserted near middle of corolla-tube; anthers usually subsessile. Capsule 5–10 mm long. Flowers spring and summer.