It is an evergreen shrub that usually grows to between 30 and 100 cm tall and occasionally up to 2 m (6.5 ft) tall in the subspecies "L. stoechas" subsp. "luisieri". Its leaves are 1–4 cm long, greyish and tomentose. The inflorescence is crowned by a mass of purple elongated ovoid bracts about 5 cm long. Lower flowers form a tight rectangular in cross-section. The upper of the five teeth has a wrong-heart-shaped appendage. The crown is blackish-violet, up to 8 mm long and indistinct two-lipped.