Annuals 5-20(-30) cm tall. Stems erect, usually branched basally and from middle, sparsely pubescent. Leaves short petiolate; leaf blade oblong to ovate-lanceolate, 0.5-3 X 0.4-1.3 cm, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin sparsely shallowly dentate. Racemes terminal, sometimes also axillary, 2-25 cm, puberulent with hairs 0.1-0.3 mm, sparsely glandular hairy; bracts alternate, smaller than leaves, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, margin entire. Pedicel 3-7(-11) mm, as long as or shorter than bract, patent and straight in fruit. Calyx 4-lobed, laterally more shallowly parted to 3/4 of length; lobes ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 4-8 X 2-4 mm in fruit, margin entire, apex acute, conspicuously 3-veined. Corolla white, blue, or purple, rotate, 3-4 mm in diam.; upper lobe orbicular and other 3 lobes ovate-orbicular. Filaments shorter than corolla. Capsule strongly compressed, shorter than calyx, 3-4.5 X 3.5-5(-6) mm, short glandular hairy, apex notch 1/2-2/3 of capsule length and forming 2 almost free lobes, notch apex less than 30; lobes apically rounded obtuse. Style 0.4-0.8 mm, included in notch. Seeds 4-6 per capsule, navicular, 1.5-2.2 X 0.7-1.3 mm; seed coat obscurely transversely rugose. Fl. Apr-Aug. 2n = 28.

Waste fields, steppes, slopes; 800-3600 m. Gansu, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, W Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang [Afghanistan, India, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia].