Herbs perennial. Roots brown, spinose or conic. Stems sparsely clustered or solitary, yellow or violet, 10--40 cm, glandular pubescent. Leaf blade elliptic-ovate, 1--1.5 cm × 4--6 mm, thin, both surfaces tuberculate, base cuneate, apex obtuse. Cymes few flowered; bracts leaflike, small. Pedicel 1--3 cm, soft, glandular pubescent. Sepals 5, lanceolate, 5--6 × 1.5--2 mm, sparsely glandular pubescent abaxially, base broadened, margin narrowly membranous, apex obtuse. Petals 5, white, obovate, 1.5--2 × as long as sepals, apex lacerate. Stamens 10, longer than sepals; anthers yellow, rarely green. Ovary ovoid. Styles 2, linear. Capsule shorter than or equaling persistent sepals. Seeds 11 or 12. Fl. and fr. Jul--Sep.

* Mountain grasslands; 3000--4000 m. NW Yunnan.