Herbs perennial, 16--35 cm tall, drying black. Stems ascending, often several, ± diffuse at base, leafy, densely rust colored pubescent. Leaf petiole 0.5--1.5 cm, slender, pubescent; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate to linear-oblong, 1.5--3.4 cm X 5--8 mm, papery, pubescent on both surfaces, 1-pinnatisect; segments 6--12 pairs, oblong to ovate, dentate, teeth white and callose. Inflorescences racemose, to 20 cm, often interrupted basally. Pedicel 3--5 mm, slender, densely pubescent. Calyx to 8 mm, 1/2--2/3 cleft anteriorly; lobes (3 or)5, unequal, pubescent, serrate. Corolla purplish red, 1.8--2.5 cm; tube straight, 0.9--1.3 cm; galea curved apically; beak ca. 1.5 mm, apex shallowly 2-cleft; lower lip ca. as long as or slightly longer than galea, glabrous. Filaments densely villous. Capsule obliquely lanceolate-ovoid, to 1.6 cm X 4.5 mm, short apiculate. Fl. May--Sep, fr. Aug--Nov.

* Open mountain slopes, meadows, open forests; 400--1400 m. N Guangdong, NW Guangxi, W Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Laos, Vietnam].