Plants 10-20 cm tall, glabrous throughout. Rhizomes ascending, 0.5-2 cm, usually covered with fibrous remains of old leaves; roots fibrous, ca. 0.5 mm in diam. Stems erect, simple. Basal and lower cauline leaves long petiolate; petiole to 5 cm; blade broadly ovate to oblong-ovate, 1-4 × 1-1.5 cm, margin entire. Middle cauline leaves lyrate; terminal lobe orbicular or oblong, ca. 1 × 1 cm; lateral lobes 1- or 2-paired, reduced, elliptic to linear-elliptic, margin entire, apex obtuse. Upper cauline leaves pinnatifid; segments 5-7, linear-lanceolate, entire; terminal one larger. Inflorescence semiglobose, 1-2 cm in diam.; bracts and bracteoles lanceolate, membranous. Corolla white, rose, pink, or sometimes purplish, funnelform, 5-6 mm; lobes obovate, nearly as long as tube. Stamens and style exserted. Achenes ovoid-ellipsoid, ca. 3 × 1 mm, glabrous. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug.

● Meadows, forests; 2000-3900(-4200) m. Gansu (Jiayuguan, Lintan, Sunan), SW Nei Mongol (Alxa Zuoqi), NW Ningxia (Helan Shan), N and NE Qinghai, Sichuan (Xiangcheng).