Shrubs, evergreen, 1.2–3(–5) m tall; branchlets reddish brown, smooth; young shoots scaly, otherwise glabrous. Petiole 5–25 mm, scaly; leaf blade leathery, lanceolate, oblong-lanceolate or narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate, (3–)5–15 × (1.2–)1.4–3.5(–4.5) cm; base tapering; apex acuminate; abaxial surface conspicuously pale and glaucous, scales 4–6(–10) × their own diameter apart small, golden yellow to brown; adaxial surface dark green, usually sparsely scaly. Inflorescence (4–)10–15-flowered; rachis 3–50 mm. Pedicel pruinose, 1.6–3 cm; calyx pruinose, rimlike, sometimes slightly lobed, 1–2 mm, persistent; corolla campanulate, fleshy, pruinose, reddish purple, 1.3–1.8 cm, tube 12–17 mm, glabrous; stamens (8–)10, filaments glabrous; ovary scaly; style stout, sharply deflexed, short, glabrous. Capsule ovate-cylindric, 6–9 mm, scaly. Fl. Apr–May, fr. Jun–Aug.

Forest margins, thickets, scrub, rocky slopes; 2000–4500 m. SE Xizang, W Yunnan [NE Myanmar].