Herbs perennial, 10--27 cm tall, glabrescent, not drying black. Stems purplish black, shiny, erect or ± bent, with 1--3 internodes. Leaves mostly basal, in a rosette; petiole 2.5--7 cm, slender; leaf blade ovate-oblong to linear-oblong, to 3 X 1.4 cm, pinnatisect; segments 2--4 pairs, ovate to oblong, pinnatipartite, margin double dentate. Stem leaves smaller than basal leaves, shorter petiolate; leaf blade 5--10 mm. Inflorescences capitate, 2--3.5 cm, many flowered; bracts leaflike. Calyx tube 6--7 mm; lobes 5, unequal. Corolla purplish red, with nearly blackish purple galea, ca. 2.5 cm; tube ca. 1.2 cm; galea falcate apically; beak straight, ca. 2.5 mm, slender; lower lip ca. 1 cm X 3.5 mm, slightly shorter than galea. 2 filaments sparsely long pubescent, 2 glabrous. Fl. May--Jun, fr. Jul--Aug.
* Alpine meadows; 4100--4400 m. W Sichuan, NW Yunnan.
