Plants 10-20 cm tall. Stem erect, usually purple tinged, branched. Petiole 1-2 mm; leaf blade ovate-oblong to ovate-lanceolate, 1-2.2 × 0.5-1 cm, sparsely sordid furfuraceous, base cuneate, apex shortly acuminate; veins evident abaxially. Glomerules usually 2-4-flowered; bracts narrowly ovate, adaxially slightly concave, ca. 0.5 mm, membranous, central part green and slightly thickened; bractlets narrowly ovate or triangular, 0.3-0.5 mm, membranous. Perianth parted to middle; segments 0.8-1 mm in fruit, brown veined, margin membranous. Filaments pellucid, attenuate distally, ca. 0.75 mm; anthers ca. 0.15 mm. Stigma filiform, ca. 0.1 mm, slightly recurved. Utricle dark brown, ca. 2 × 1.7 mm, surface regularly foveolate, base with a protrusion at point of attachment, apex protruding from perianth. Seed black-brown, adherent to pericarp; perisperm white. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.

* Sunny steppe slopes; ca. 1900 m. S Gansu (Têwo).