Herbs annual, biennial, or perennial, 15-35(-40) cm tall, densely glandular pubescent, usually with branched fleshy roots. Stems unbranched. Leaves deltate-ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 1-1.5 cm X 5-7 mm, along with bracts, calyx, and corolla densely glandular pubescent abaxially, glabrescent adaxially. Inflorescences spicate, 5-20(-30) cm; bract ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 1-1.5 cm X 5-6 mm; bractlets absent. Calyx campanulate, 1-1.2 cm, irregularly 2-parted to base; segments 2-lobed, rarely entire; lobes linear, 2 longer than others. Corolla 1-2.2 cm; tube pale yellow or dark blue-purple, distinctly enlarged, turned into a rounded curve or suberect, constricted upward; upper lip 2-lobed; lower lip slightly shorter than upper; lobes pale purple or pale blue, subrounded. Filaments 7-9 mm, glabrous or pubescent basally; anthers ovoid, 1-1.2 mm, glabrous. Ovary ovoid-oblong. Style 6-8 mm; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule oblong or oblong-ellipsoid, 1-1.2 cm X 5-7 mm. Seeds long ellipsoid, 0.4-0.5 X ca. 0.2 mm.

Grasslands, slopes, forests, roadsides; 500-3000 m. Gansu, Hebei, W Jilin, Nei Mongol, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, W Xizang [Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia, Europe].