Cyananthus linifolius Wallich ex J. D. Hooker & Thomson, nom. illeg. superfl.; C. nepalensis Kitamura.

Caudexes robust, branched, densely covered with scales toward apex; scales elliptic to lanceolate, ca. 5 × 2 mm. Stems brownish red, slender, 5-25 cm, branched toward base, glabrous or sparsely puberulent. Leaves alternate, almost sessile; blade ovate, lanceolate, or linear-elliptic, 5-13 × 1.5-5 mm, abaxially sericeous, adaxially glabrous, base rounded to subcordate, margin revolute, entire, or sinuous, apex obtuse or acute. Flowers solitary and terminal; pedicels 3-10 mm, brown- or black setose. Calyx brown- or black setose; tube cylindrical, 7-10 mm, base truncate; lobes triangular, 1/2-2/3 as long as tube, both sides hairy. Corolla blue-purple or blue, cylindrical-campanulate, 1.8-2.8 cm, glabrous or brown- or black setose, densely white fimbriate villous inside; lobes obovate-oblong, subequal to tube in length. Ovary conical, nearly as long as calyx; style extending up to corolla throat. Seeds shiny brown, oblong, ca. 2 × 0.5-0.7 mm. Fl. Sep.

Chinese plants are Cyananthus microphyllus subsp. microphyllus; C. microphyllus subsp. williamsonii K. K. Shrestha is known only from Nepal.

Mountain slopes; 3300-4300 m. S Xizang (Nyalam) [N India, Nepal].