Herbs, perennial, epipetric, rhizomatous, stemless. Leaves many, basal; leaf blade glabrous to densely woolly, base narrowly to broadly cuneate, rarely subrounded. Inflorescences lax or dense, axillary, rarely subumbel-like, 1- to many-flowered cymes; bracts apparently absent. Calyx actinomorphic, 5-sect from near base to 5-lobed from near middle; segments equal. Corolla blue to purple, seldom yellow to white, zygomorphic, inside densely bearded on abaxial lip; tube tubular, not swollen, much longer than limb, 1-7 mm in diam.; limb 2-lipped; adaxial lip 2-lobed, usually distinctly shorter than abaxial lip; abaxial lip 3-lobed, lobes subequal, rarely unequal, apex rounded to obtuse. Stamens 4, adnate to corolla tube above base or rarely above middle, included or rarely slightly exserted; anthers dorsifixed, coherent in pairs, thecae divaricate, confluent, dehiscing longitudinally; connective not projecting; staminode 1, adnate to adaxial side of corolla tube. Disc ringlike. Ovary oblong, 1-loculed; placentas 2, parietal, projecting inward, 2-cleft. Stigma 1, terminal, capitate, emarginate. Capsule straight in relation to pedicel, narrowly oblong to linear, rarely ovoid, much longer than calyx, dehiscing loculicidally or sometimes septicidally to base; valves 2, straight, not twisted. Seeds unappendaged.

Three to five species: Bhutan, China, N India, Nepal, Sikkim, Thailand; three species in China.