Herbs erect, 40-60 cm tall. Stems single or several and cespitose, densely yellowish brown strigose. Basal and lower stem leaves long petiolate, oblong to oblong-lanceolate, 15-20 × 3-5 cm, densely appressed pubescent, base attenuate, apex obtuse; upper stem leaves sessile, smaller. Inflorescences terminal and axillary, subdichotomously branching; branches spreading at obtuse angle, ebracteate. Pedicel 1-2 mm, shorter than calyx in fruit, densely strigose. Calyx 1.5-2 mm, slightly enlarged to ca. 3 mm in fruit; lobes ovate to ovate-oblong, densely strigose outside. Corolla blue, funnelform, base 3.5-4.5 mm wide; throat appendages trapeziform, ca. 1 mm, margin densely white pilose, apex retuse; limb 5-7 mm wide; lobes oblong, apex rounded. Filaments expanded at base; anthers oblong, ca. 1 × 0.5 mm. Style somewhat tetragonous, ca. 1-2.5 mm. Nutlets ovoid-globose, 2-3 × 1.5-2.5 mm, abaxially concave, with dense glochids, margin wingless or winged below middle. Fl. and fr. May-Oct. 2n = 24.

Cynoglossum villosulum Nakai, Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 37: 6. 1923.

Forest meadows, sunny slopes; 300-3000 m. Fujian, S Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Afghanistan, India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam]