Herbs perennial, 4--7 cm tall, drying black. Roots fusiform, fleshy. Stems 1 to several, ascending. Basal leaves in a rosette; petiole 3--5 cm; leaf blade narrowly lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 3--5 cm X ca. 5 mm. Stem leaves 2--4 pairs, sessile, narrowly oblong, 1.3--1.5 cm X 7.5--10 mm, ± entire to crenate or serrate. Inflorescences spicate, 1--3-fascicled, sometimes interrupted basally; bracts leaflike, longer than or ca. as long as calyx. Calyx cylindric-campanulate, ca. 1.2 cm, glandular pubescent, 1/3 cleft anteriorly; lobes 5, unequal, posterior one smallest, lateral lobes oblong, crenate. Corolla dark purple; tube erect, ca. 2 cm, slender; galea bent at a right angle apically; beak S-shaped, ca. 1.5 cm, slender; lower lip ca. 1.8 cm wide, glabrous, middle lobe rounded, ca. 1/2 as long as lateral pair. Filaments pubescent throughout. Capsule enclosed by persistent calyx, compressed, ovoid, ca. 1.5 cm X 7 mm. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Jul--Sep.
Alpine rocky meadows, Picea forests; 2700--5100 m. W Qinghai, SW and W Sichuan, S and SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim]
