Herbs perennial, efarinose. Leaves forming a rosette; petiole usually indistinct, occasionally ca. 1/2 as long as leaf blade; leaf blade oblong-obovate to narrowly oblong or oblanceolate, 2--10 X 0.5--2 cm, tapering to base, margin entire to obscurely crenulate, apex rounded to obtuse. Scape 10--30 cm, elongating to 70 cm in fruit, umbel many flowered; bracts narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 4--10 mm, slightly auriculate at base. Pedicel erect, 3--10 mm, elongating to 0.6--3 cm in fruit. Flowers heterostylous. Calyx tubular-campanulate, 4--6 mm, parted to 1/3 or slightly below; lobes lanceolate, white farinose inside and on margin, apex subobtuse. Corolla rose-violet; tube 5--7 mm, slightly longer than calyx; limb 6--10 mm wide; lobes obovate, ca. 2.5 mm, deeply emarginate. Thrum flowers: stamens ca. 3 mm above base of corolla tube; style reaching insertion of stamens. Capsule oblong, nearly 2 X as long as calyx. Fl. May. 2n = 18.

Pastures in river valleys; ca. 1200 m. NW Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, E Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan].