Herbs perennial. Roots robust; rootlets many. Stems pulvinate, with numerous branches, slender, 5--10 cm × ca. 1 mm, glabrous. Leaf blade linear-subulate, 0.5--1.5 cm × ca. 1 mm, margin slightly reflexed, apex spinose. Cymes 1--3-flowered; rachis densely glandular hairy; bracts ovate-lanceolate, 2--3 mm, margin broadly white scarious, apex acute. Pedicel densely glandular hairy. Sepals 5, ovate-lanceolate, 3--5 × 1--2 mm, glandular hairy abaxially, 1-veined, base broadened, margin narrowly membranous, apex acute. Petals 5, white, orbicular-obovate, longer than sepals, apex slightly undulate. Floral disc with 5 glands. Stamens 10; filaments equaling sepals. Ovary ovoid. Styles 3, ca. 2 mm. Capsule ovoid, slightly longer than persistent sepals, 3-valved; valves 2-cleft at apex. Fl. and fr. Jul--Sep.

Mountains; 2300--4200 m. Gansu, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang [Mongolia, Russia].