Herbs perennial. Roots tuberous, carrot-shaped to narrowly conical. Rootstock short, robust. Stems 1-3, simple, erect, 20-50 cm. Leaves alternate; leaf blade narrowly lanceolate, elliptic-lanceolate, elliptic, ovate-oblanceolate, ovate, broadly ovate, or orbicular, 3.5-8 × 0.5-3 cm, base cuneate, margin irregularly serrate, apex obtuse-rounded or acuminate. Inflorescence horizontally branched, many flowered; bracts leaflike. Flowers unequally 5-merous. Sepals linear, unequal, 3-5 mm, apex obtuse. Petals yellow, oblong to elliptic-lanceolate, 6-10 mm, apex mucronate. Stamens 10, shorter than petals. Nectar scales subquadrangular, ca. 0.3 mm. Carpels ovoid-oblong, adaxially convex, base connate. Styles narrowly subulate. Follicles stellate, ca. 7 mm. Seeds ellipsoid, ca. 1 mm. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

Scrub, ravine edges in valleys, grasslands on rocky slopes, sandy, sunny, and grassy places on mountains, shady places on slopes, field banks, rock crevices; 1000-3100 m. Anhui, Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Zhejiang [Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Russia].