Herbs perennial, 60--100 cm tall. Roots brownish or brown-gray, thick, woody. Stems several, arising from root crown, dichotomously or trichotomously spreading branched, usually purple-red when mature. Leaves oblong, 4--8 × 0.5--1.5 cm, thick, subfleshy, 3--5-veined, midvein prominent, base connate into a short sheath, apex apiculate. Corymbose cymes terminal or axillary, dense, glabrous; bracts ovate-lanceolate, membranous, margin ciliate, apex caudate-acuminate. Pedicel 2--5 mm, glabrous or pubescent. Calyx campanulate or funnelform, 2--3 mm; lobes ovate-triangular, veins green, margin white, membranous, ciliate, apex acute. Petals pink, obovate-oblong, ca. 2 × as long as calyx, apex truncate or retuse. Stamens longer than petals. Ovary obovoid. Styles exserted, long linear. Capsule ovoid, slightly longer than calyx. Seeds brown-gray, compressed subreniform, 1.2--1.5 mm, with striate protuberances; raphe mucronate tuberculate. Fl. Jun--Sep, fr. Aug--Oct.

The roots are used medicinally and the species is cultivated as an ornamental.

Scrub, mountain slope grasslands, rocks, maritime sands; sea level to 2000 m. Anhui, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi [Korea].