Roots up to 40 cm. Stems single or several from one root, up to 80 cm tall, simple, usually glabrous, sometimes hispidulous. Basal leaf blade deltoid or rhombic-ovate, base shallowly cordate, margin crenate. Cauline leaves sessile; blade linear or less often lanceolate, 4-9 × 0.2-1.3 cm, glabrous, margin entire or serrate. Cymes single flowered, forming a pseudoraceme, or lower cymes several flowered, forming a very narrow panicle, or rarely with a solitary terminal flower. Hypanthium obovoid-oblong, glabrous or rarely scaberulose; calyx lobes linear-lanceolate, 4-10 × 1.5-2 mm. Corolla blue or pale purple, broadly campanulate, 1.6-2.8 cm; lobes ovate-triangular, 6-8 mm, less often deltoid and only ca. 4 mm. Disk cylindrical, 1.3-3.5 mm, glabrous or sparsely hairy. Style slightly shorter than, rarely as long as corolla. Capsule ellipsoid, 8-13 × 4-7 mm. Seeds yellow-brown, ellipsoid, ca. 1.8 mm. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 34, 68.

Forests, thickets, communities of tall herbs, meadows, grassy slopes; below 2600 m. Hebei, Heilongjiang, W Jilin, Liaoning, E, N, and SE Nei Mongol, C and N Shanxi [Korea, E Mongolia, Russia (Far East, SE Siberia)].