Stems slender, arcuate; fertile branchlets 2.5-8 cm, dark purple, with a retrorse line of hairs from base of each leaf; sterile branchlets terminal, lateral or arising from rhizome, trailing or ascending. Petiole to ca. 1/2 as long as blades; leaf blade oblong-elliptic, 0.6-2 cm × 1.5-7 mm; basal leaves short petioled, 2-4 mm, glandular, mostly deciduous at anthesis, margin distinctly 2- or 3-crenate, ciliate; upper leaves subacute. Inflorescences capitate, verticillasters widely spaced. Pedicel to 3.5 mm, retrorse pubescent. Calyx tubular-campanulate, 5-6 mm, purplish or dark purple, base pilose, apex glabrous; teeth of upper lip ca. 3/5 as long as lip, narrowly lanceolate, margin minutely hispid. Corolla rose-purple, 1-1.2 cm. Nutlets ellipsoid, 0.7-0.8 × 0.5-0.7 mm (specimens not seen).

Gravelly grasslands, sandy valleys. Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning [Russia].