Herbs perennial, compressed globose, glandular hairy. Stems tufted, terete, 15--30(--60) cm tall, with numerous dichotomous branches, glandular hairy or pubescent, sometimes with 1 line of hairs. Leaves ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 0.5--2.5 cm × 1--10 mm, both surfaces glandular hairy or pubescent, base rounded or subcordate, somewhat clasping, apex acute or acuminate, rarely glabrous. Flowers numerous, in terminal cymes. Pedicel 1--2 cm, slender, pubescent. Sepals 5, lanceolate, 4--5 mm, midvein conspicuous, glandular hairy or pubescent, rarely glabrous outside, margin membranous, apex acuminate. Petals 5, oblanceolate, ca. 4 mm, subequaling sepals, 2-cleft nearly to 1/3 or 1/2; lobes sublinear. Stamens 10, 1/3--1/2 as long as petals. Ovary ovoid or broadly elliptic-oblanceolate; styles 3, linear. Capsule broadly ovoid, ca. 3 mm, shorter than persistent sepals, 6-valved. Seeds 1--5, brown-black, ovoid-orbicular, slightly compressed, tuberculate. Fl. May--Jul, fr. Jul--Aug. 2n = 28.

Slopes, stony and sandy hills and steppes; 200--3100 m. Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia].