Herbs perennial, to 15 cm tall, drying slightly black. Roots slender, several, fusiform, ± fleshy. Stems usually 4 or 5, often procumbent or ascending, unbranched, densely fine pubescent and striate. Leaves mostly basal; petiole 2.5--10 cm, narrowly winged, sparsely pubescent; leaf blade 2--10.5 X 0.5--2.5 cm, abaxially sparsely pubescent along veins, adaxially glabrous or sparsely pubescent and finely pubescent along midvein, pinnatipartite to nearly pinnatisect; segments 6--13 pairs, triangular-ovate to ovate, margin double dentate or pinnatifid. Stem leaves usually nearly opposite, distal ones alternate, similar to basal leaves but smaller, shorter petiolate. Pedicel 3--11.5 cm, usually curved, finely pubescent. Flowers axillary. Calyx tube 5.5--10 mm, 2- or 3(--5)-lobed; posterior one smallest, entire or dentate, sometimes absent, lateral lobes incised-dentate. Corolla red; tube 7--10 mm, pubescent externally; galea ± bent at a right angle, with or without auriculate protrusion (crest); beak semicircular, 7--11 mm; lower lip 0.8--1.5 X 1.6--2.6 cm, long ciliate, middle lobe emarginate. Filaments pubescent. Capsule semi-globose, ca. 1.2 cm X 6.5 mm. Fl. Jul--Aug, fr. Aug.

* Alpine meadows; 3600--4900 m. SW and W Sichuan, NW Yunnan