Perennials. Leaves on main stems with petiole 2-5(-10) mm or sometimes subsessile; leaf blade orbicular, cordate, or reniform, 0.5-2 cm, base truncate, subcordate, or cuneate, margin serrately 2-7-toothed, apex obtuse to acuminate, veins inconspicuous. Leaves on branches crowded, needlelike, sometimes linear-lanceolate upward, 3-5 mm. Flowers subsessile or short pedicelled. Calyx lobes narrowly triangular-lanceolate, 3-5 mm, subequal. Corolla white or rose, ca. 6 mm; tube short campanulate; lobes 5, orbicular to oblong, subequal, sometimes transparently punctate. Filaments filiform, adnate to corolla tube; anther locules apically confluent. Style ca. 1 mm. Capsule red, ovoid to globose, berrylike, fleshy, shiny, 5-6(-10) mm. Seeds pale yellow-brown, ovoid, to 1 mm. Fl. Apr-Jun, fr. Jun-Aug.

Alpine grassland, rock crevices, among herbs; 2600-4100 m. Gansu, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India, Indonesia (Sulawesi), Nepal, Philippines, Sikkim].