Herbs perennial, 20--26 cm tall, glabrescent, drying ± black. Roots fleshy. Stems single or 3 or 4, many branched; branches slender, pubescent. Basal leaves usually withering early; petiole ca. 2 cm. Stem leaves alternate; petiole 6--10 mm; leaf blade long ovate or ovate-oblong, 3--5 X 1.5--1.7 cm, glabrous on both surfaces, pinnatisect; segments 7--9 pairs, widely spaced, lanceolate-oblong to linear-lanceolate, pinnate-dentate. Inflorescences racemose, more than 1/3 as long as stems or branches, lax; bracts leaflike. Pedicel to 1.4 cm. Calyx 4--5 mm, densely downy, 1/2 cleft anteriorly; lobes 3, ± equal, palmatipartite. Corolla purple-red, ca. 1 cm; tube 4--5 mm; galea falcate, with a 2-auriculate protuberance; beak semicircular, 5--6 mm; lower lip ca. 7 X 9 mm, ciliate, middle lobe ca. 5 X 4 mm, prominently projecting and narrowed to a stipitate base. Filaments villous. Capsule ca. 5 mm. Fl. Jul--Aug, fr. Aug.

* Thickets, margins of woods; ca. 1400 m. W Henan.