Side by side
What tells them apart
Colour decides: intense violet-blue on pride of Madeira, pale blue to whitish on the other. And the latter has leaves with strongly marked veins and a shorter, rounder inflorescence.
Harmless confusion
How to tell it
A shrub one to two metres, with rosettes of narrow silvery leaves at the branch ends. The inflorescence is unmistakable: a dense pyramid or cone thirty to sixty centimetres, violet-blue, with bright pink stamens protruding well beyond each flower. The whole plant is covered in rough hairs. Range: endemic to Madeira.
How to tell it
A compact rounded shrub, silvery with hairs. Leaves in rosettes at the branch ends, with strongly marked, deeply impressed side veins, which gives the scientific name. A short dense, almost globular inflorescence, pale blue to whitish or pink. It grows near the sea. Range: endemic to Madeira.