Annuals, 15-80 cm tall, entirely sparsely with scaly short hairs. Stems erect, subquadrangular, branched or rarely simple, sometimes pubescent with multicellular hairs along 2 lines. Petiole ca. 5 mm; leaf blade linear, linear-lanceolate, elliptic, ovate-elliptic, or narrowly ovate, base rounded to cuneate, apex acuminate to sometimes obtuse. Bracts lanceolate to ovate with pointed teeth at base or whole margin with setoselike teeth, apex acute to acuminate. Calyx ca. 4 mm, often scabrous, often with multicellular hairs along veins; lobes narrowly triangular to subulate-triangular, short ciliate. Corolla purple, purple-red, or red, with white on sides, 1.5-2 cm; tube ca. 2 X as long as limb; galea densely barbate inside. Capsule ovoid, 8-10 mm, scaly hairy or rarely glabrous, apex truncate to oblique. Seeds black, ca. 3 mm. Fl. summer-autumn.

Thickets on slopes, among high grasses; below 1500 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong (Lianxian), Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Russia (Far East)].