Herbs 14-16 cm tall. Sterile branches arising from proximal cauline leaf axils, densely brown hairy. Stems brown pilose. Cauline leaves opposite; petiole ca. 3.5 mm, brown pilose; leaf blade flabellate, ca. 0.85 × 1.1 cm, both surfaces and margin glabrous or brown pilose, base cuneate, margin obscurely 6-undulate-crenate or distinctly obtusely dentate, apex subtruncate. Cyme ca. 2 cm; branches glabrous; bracteal leaves with petiole 1-2 mm, pilose, leaf blade subflabellate, 1-1.3 cm × 8.5-11 mm, both surfaces and margin glabrous or pilose, margin obscurely 3-5-undulate-crenate or distinctly obtusely dentate, apex obtuse to subtruncate. Pedicel glabrous. Sepals brown spotted, broadly ovate to broadly subelliptic, 1.8-2.2 × ca. 2 mm, apex obtuse. Stamens 8, ca. 1 mm. Ovary semi-inferior; styles ca. 1 mm. Disc absent. Capsule ca. 5.5 mm; carpels unequal; rostrums ca. 1 mm. Seeds dark brown, broadly ellipsoid, ca. 1 mm, ca. 17-sulcate, ridges papillose. Fl. and fr. Apr-Jun. 2n = 24.

Shady and wet places in forest understories, rock clefts in ravines; 1500-3500 m. ?Anhui, S Gansu, ?Guangdong, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Hubei, EC Hunan, Jilin, Liaoning, ?Nei Mongol, E Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, E Sichuan, E Zhejiang [Korea, Russia].