Herbs, perennial, 20-60(-90) cm tall, glabrous. Rootstock long, 0.5-1 cm in diam. Stems few to several, prostrate to ascending or rarely erect in young plants, pale green, branched, with many leaves. Leaves several, crowded at base but many all along stem; petiole 3-15 cm; blade pruinose abaxially, green adaxially, broadly ovate, biternate with terminal leaflet larger; pinnae longer petiolulate; pinnules petiolulate or sessile, broadly obovate, shallowly cut into broadly obovate lobes, or deeply ternatisect, lobes again shallowly 2-4-divided. Racemes 2-10 cm, 7-12-flowered, dense, much elongating in fruit; bracts broadly obovate, 4-10 mm, lower ones slightly 3-5-divided, upper ones entire, acute to acuminate. Pedicel 5-9(-12) mm, recurved in fruit. Sepals white, ca. 1 × 1.5 mm, finely dentate. Corolla purple, purplish blue, or pink; outer petals acute to shortly acuminate with entire crest 1-1.5 mm, overtopping apex 0.5-1 mm; upper petal 20-23 mm; spur straight to slightly downcurved, cylindric, 10-11 mm, obtuse; nectary 1/3-2/5 as long as spur; lower petal with long narrow claw, apically gradually broadened into rhombic-acute limb; inner petals 9-11 mm. Stigma with 6 simple marginal papillae; geminate papillae sublateral and on basal lobes. Capsule linear, 19-24 × ca. 1.5 mm, 9-12-seeded; style ca. 2.5 mm. Seeds ca. 1.5 mm, smooth. Fl. and fr. Mar-Nov.

● Forest understories, among shrubs, near houses and farms, on walls; (?1500-)1900-2300 m. W Yunnan (Dali to Lijiang).