Herbs perennial, more than 20 cm tall, drying slightly black. Roots fleshy. Stems 1--6, cespitose, central stem erect, outer stems ascending, black, with lines of hairs. Basal leaves persistent; petiole more than 3 cm, longer than leaf blade, usually whitish pubescent; leaf blade linear-lanceolate, 1--3 cm, abaxially glabrescent, adaxially finely pubescent along midvein, pinnatipartite or barely pinnatisect; segments 6--12 pairs, ovate-oblong or ovate, pinnatifid or dentate. Stem leaves usually in whorls of 4, similar to basal ones but smaller and shorter petiolate. Inflorescences 3--7 cm, interrupted basally; bracts leaflike, ca. as long as flowers basally, lanceolate and shorter than flowers apically, sparsely to densely whitish long pubescent. Calyx 0.9--1.3 cm, barely 1/2 cleft anteriorly; lobes 5, unequal, serrate. Corolla yellow, 1.6--2.6 cm; tube decurved through anterior slit of calyx; galea slightly falcate, 5.5--9 X 2.5--3.5 mm, obscurely to conspicuously serrate crested, plicate; lower lip 7--9 mm; middle lobe rounded, producing a stipe. Filaments glabrous; anthers apiculate. Fl. Jul--Aug.

* Alpine regions, among limestone rocks, moist slopes, moist stony pastures; 2900--5000 m. Gansu, Qinghai, N Sichuan, SE Xizang, NW Yunnan