Subshrubs perennial. Rhizomes woody, branched, producing numerous stems. Stems purplish, 6-20 cm tall, ascending to suberect, flexuous to nearly straight, sparsely retrorse strigose, ± spreading pilose, stipitate glandular upward. Petiole 2-5 mm, strigose; leaf blade ovate, (0.4-) 0.9-1.8 × (0.2-)0.5-1.5 cm, sparsely strigose, stipitate glandular, base rounded to broadly cuneate, margin 1-4- crenate-serrate to occasionally entire, apex obtuse to slightly obtuse. Racemes 3-5.5 cm, compact; bracts ovate-elliptic to broadly elliptic, ca. 1.5 × 1 cm basally, ± herbaceous, densely spreading villous outside, stipitate glandular, base broadly cuneate, margin entire or 1- or 2-serrate basally, apex subobtuse to acute. Pedicel to 4 mm, flat, densely pubescent. Calyx ca. 2 mm, densely villous outside, stipitate glandular; scutellum ca. 3 mm. Corolla yellowish except for purplish apex of upper lip and lateral lobes of lower lip, purple spotted on lower lip, 2.5-3 cm, densely pilose outside, stipitate glandular; tube bent in front at base, ca. 2 mm wide at middle, gradually dilated to 6 mm wide at throat; upper lip ca. 6 mm wide; middle lobe of lower lip subcircular, ca. 1 cm wide, apex emarginate; lateral lobes near upper lip, ovate, ca. 2.5 mm wide. Nutlets unknown. Fl. Jul-Aug.

Kamelin (in litt.) believes that the taxon described here should be called Scutellaria paulsenii Briquet (Bot. Tidsskr. 28: 233. 1908) and that true S. oligodonta has been included in S. orthotricha (species 95 in this account).

Grassy slopes, alpine grasslands, riverbank terraces; 2500-2600 m. Xinjiang [Kyrgyzstan]