Herbs biennial, sometimes annual, 30--60 cm tall, subglabrous. Stems erect, usually many branched; branches rigid, alternate, rarely pseudo-opposite or pseudo-whorled. Leaves alternate or opposite, rarely whorled, short petiolate or sessile; leaf blade triangular-lanceolate to linear, subglabrous, pinnatisect; segments linear to lanceolate, pinnatifid to dentate. Inflorescences racemose; bracts leaflike. Pedicel 1--2 mm. Calyx 7--8 mm; lobes 2, crenate-serrate. Corolla purple, 1.3--2.5 cm; tube erect, nearly 2 X as long as calyx, glabrous; galea erect, with 1 subulate marginal tooth on each side at apex; lower lip slightly longer than galea, ciliate. Filaments glabrous. Capsule obliquely ovoid, apiculate. Fl. Aug, fr. Sep. 2n = 16.

Marshy places, swampy meadows, flat bogs, ditches; ca. 400 m. NW Heilongjiang, NE Nei Mongol, N Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, N Mongolia, Russia; C and N Europe]