Herbs perennial, 4.5--22 cm tall, glabrous, drying black. Stems fleshy, unbranched. Basal leaves in a rosette; petiole 3--12 cm, slender, glabrous; leaf blade ovate-oblong, 4--5.5 X 2--4.5 cm, pinnatisect to pinnatipartite; segments 5--9 pairs, linear-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, pinnatifid, serrulate. Stem leaves opposite, shorter petiolate, pinnatifid. Inflorescences centrifugal, 4--7 cm, many flowered; bracts leaflike, shorter than flowers. Calyx ca. 1 cm, slightly cleft anteriorly; lobes 5, unequal, posterior one linear, entire, lateral lobes larger, serrate. Corolla red; tube slightly longer than calyx, ca. 1.3 cm; galea erect basally, with a central marginal protuberance on each side, apex truncate, 1-toothed on each side, these sometimes inconspicuous; lower lip to 1.4 cm, ciliate, sinuate-crenulate, middle lobe smallest. Filaments villous. Capsule long ovoid, 1.2--1.5 cm X 5--7 mm, oblique, short apiculate. Fl. Jul--Aug, fr. Aug--Sep.

* Alpine meadows and grasslands; 3800--4200 m. SW Sichuan, Yunnan