Herbs perennial, 50--80 cm tall. Roots thick, 0.5--1.5 cm in diam. Stems usually solitary, sometimes 2 or 3 together, erect, distally branched, glandular pubescent. Leaves sessile, glaucous, linear-oblanceolate, 1.5--8 cm × 3--12 mm, midvein prominent, base attenuate, apex subobtuse or acute; proximal leaves longer than distal ones. Corymbose cymes scattered; bracts ovate, base attenuate, margin membranous, ciliate, apex acute. Pedicel 2--5 mm, glabrous. Calyx campanulate, 2--3 × ca. 1.5 mm; lobes ovate, margin ciliate, apex rounded. Petals white or pink, obovate-oblong, apex retuse. Stamens shorter than or equaling petals. Capsule globose, slightly longer than calyx, 2--2.5 mm in diam. Seeds ca. 1 mm, acutely tuberculate. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Jul--Aug.

Mountain slopes, valley grasslands, floodlands, ditches; 1300--2400 m. NW Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Russia (Siberia); Europe].