Annuals or biennials, 20-90 cm tall. Stems cylindric, erect, glabrous, woody at base, corymbosely branched above middle. Leaves alternate, linear, linear-lanceolate, or narrowly lanceolate, 1-4 cm × 1-4 mm, both surfaces glabrous, 3-veined from base, base attenuate, margin entire, apex acuminate, acute, or obtuse. Flowers solitary or numerous in broad cymes, ca. 1 cm in diam. Pedicel 0.3-1.5 cm. Sepals oblong to broadly ovate, 3-4 mm, base 3-veined, margin membranous and with black stipitate glands. Petals blue, bluish purple, or pink, obovate, to 9 mm, base gradually narrowed, apex erose. Stamens as long as styles. Styles distinct or basally connate. Capsule subglobose, 3-5 mm in diam., septicidal. Seeds oblong, 2-2.5 mm. Fl. Jun-Sep, fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 20.

Mountain slopes, along trails, wastelands; 600-2800 m. Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan [Japan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Russia (Far East), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan].