Small to medium sized shrub. The typical form has mauve flowers with a darker red-eye, but there are also forms with white and yellow flowers, without the dark eye. The flowers are 'tulip-shaped'. The foliage is deeply lobed dark-green in colour. The individual lobes of the leaves can be so narrow making the foliage 'needle like'. A.hakeifolia is grown as a garden plant and seems to be unusually cold and drought tolerant.