Herbs perennial, to 30 cm tall, drying ± black. Stems clustered, basally with remnants of previous year's stems and scales. Basal leaf petiole to 10 cm, sparsely pubescent; leaf blade oblong, 4--8 cm, pinnatisect; segments 7--12 pairs, oblong, sparsely pubescent on both surfaces, dentate. Stem leaves few, opposite or in whorls of 4, smaller than basal leaves. Inflorescences 16--24-flowered; bracts leaflike. Pedicel ca. 3 mm, slender. Calyx ca. 1.5 cm, 1/3 cleft anteriorly, sparsely whitish pubescent; lobes 5, unequal, serrate. Corolla red, 3--4 cm; tube ca. 1.5 cm, glabrous; galea without marginal protuberance, but subapically toothed; lower lip shorter than galea, 1--1.2 cm, ciliate, entire. Filaments pubescent. Capsule ovoid-oblong, slightly compressed, 1.5--2 cm, mucronate. Fl. Jul--Jun, fr. Jun--Aug.

* Shrubby grass of hillsides; ca. 3600 m. NW Yunnan (Gongshan).