Herbs perennial, 20--50 cm tall, drying black. Roots clustered, fibrous. Stems 1--4, often short branched apically, with 4 lines of hairs. Leaves in whorls of 4. Basal leaf petiole to 5 cm. Distal stem leaves ± sessile, ovate-oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 2--5 X 1--1.5 cm, abaxially sparsely villous along veins and often white scurfy, adaxially sparsely adnate pubescent and densely pubescent along midvein, pinnatipartite to pinnatisect; segments 4--7 pairs, ovate to oblong-lanceolate or linear-oblong, winged, lobed or incised-dentate, proximal segments becoming leafletlike. Inflorescences spicate, to 6 cm; bracts leaflike, proximal ones slightly longer than flowers. Calyx ca. 5.5 mm, membranous, 2/5 cleft anteriorly; lobes 3, unequal, posterior one triangular, ca. 1.5 mm; lateral lobes obscure. Corolla red; tube 8--9 X ca. 2.5 mm, basal 2.5 mm strongly decurved, enlarged; galea ca. 5 mm; lower lip longer than galea, 7--8 mm X 1--1.1 cm, middle lobe rounded, smaller than lateral pair. Filaments glabrous. Fl. May, fr. Jun--Jul.

* Bamboo groves; ca. 1300 m. WC Guizhou.