Herbs 3--10 cm tall. Cotyledons linear to lanceolate, 4--11 × 0.6--2 mm, glabrous. Leaves petiolate; leaf blade rhombic, obovate, spatulate, or cuneiform, 3.5--23 × 1--11 mm, glabrous, abaxially pinkish green, base cuneate, margin minutely toothed, apex mucronate; vein dichotomies mostly open, sometimes with few anastomoses. Bracts subtending each flower fascicle except terminal one. Flowers shortly pedicellate. Sepals nar- rowly ovate, ca. 0.5 mm, membranous, glabrous. Stamens 0.6--1 mm, glabrous; filaments linear; anthers ellipsoid, ca. 0.1 mm. Carpels slightly longer than stamens, glabrous. Ovary oblong; stigma subellipsoid. Achenes narrowly oblong to nearly fusiform, 2.5--3.8 mm long, with dense or sparse, hooked hairs, occasionally glabrous. Fl. Apr--Jul, fr. Aug--Sep. 2n = 30*.

Forests or wet grasslands, usually under shade of trees, shrubs, or rock ledges; 2100--5000 m. S Gansu, E and S Qinghai, S Shaanxi, W Sichuan, NW Xinjiang, E and S Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, NE India, Nepal, Sikkim].