Herbs perennial, 20--50 cm tall. Roots woody, sometimes thick. Stems sparsely caespitose, erect, distally branched, glabrous. Leaves linear-lanceolate, 2--4 cm × 2--5 mm, midvein abaxially prominent, base attenuate, connate into a short sheath, apex acute. Corymbose cymes terminal or borne in distal leaf axils, in subcapitate clusters; bracts ovate, 1--3 mm, scarious, glabrous, apex acute. Pedicel slender, 2--3 mm. Calyx white membranous between 5 brown-purple veins, campanulate, 2--3 mm; lobes membranous at margin, apex obtuse. Petals pinkish white, oblong-oblanceolate, ca. 5 mm, apex retuse. Filaments exserted, linear, flat, unequal, shorter than to longer than petals, base broad. Ovary ovoid, ca. 1 mm. Styles longer than filaments. Capsule ovoid, slightly longer than calyx. Seeds brown, reniform-globose, both surfaces elevated striate; raphe acutely tuberculate. Fl. Jul--Aug, fr. Aug--Sep.

* Mountain slopes, valleys, roadside grasslands, rock crevices; 600--2600 m. S Shaanxi (Hua Shan, Qin Ling).