Hirculus brunonianus Losinskaja; Saxifraga brunoniana Sternberg, nom. illeg. (included S. brunonis); S. brunoniana var. majuscula Engler & Irmscher; S. brunoniana var. majuscula subvar. exunguiculata Engler & Irmscher; S. brunoniana var. majuscula subvar. unguiculata Engler & Irmscher.

Stem purple-brown, 6-16 cm, proximally glabrous, distally sparsely dark purple shortly glandular hairy. Stolons arising from axils of basal leaves, purple-brown, 4-24 cm, sparsely dark purple glandular hairy. Basal leaves aggregated into a rosette, gray-green, shiny, oblong-ensiform, 1-1.3 cm × 1.9-2.5 mm, carnose, rigid, both surfaces glabrous, margin cartilaginous setose-ciliate, apex cartilaginous aristate. Cauline leaves remote, oblong-ensiform or subensate to suboblong, 0.7-1.3 cm × 1.9-2.5 mm, carnose, rigid, both surfaces glabrous, margin cartilaginous setose-ciliate, apex cartilaginous aristate. Cyme lax, 1-7 cm, 3-9-flowered; branches to 6.5 cm, sparsely dark brown shortly glandular hairy, 2- or 3-flowered; pedicels slender, 0.7-2.4 cm, sparsely dark brown shortly glandular hairy. Sepals spreading, ovate to broadly so, 2-2.3 × 1.2-2 mm, usually glabrous, rarely with 2 or 3 dark purple, glandular hairs abaxially proximally, veins 3-5, not, partly, or fully confluent at apex, apex subobtuse or acute. Petals yellow, elliptic or oblong to lanceolate, 5-8 × 2.5-4 mm, obscurely 2-callose, 3-5-veined, base subclawed or with a claw ca. 1 mm, apex subobtuse or acute. Stamens 4.5-4.6 mm. Ovary subsuperior, ellipsoid, 1.9-2 mm; styles 1-1.2 mm. Capsule subglobose. Fl. and fr. Jun-Oct. 2n = 16.

Mossy rocks in woods, hillsides, alpine gullies; 2800-4000 m. SW Sichuan (Muli Zang Zu Zizhixian), S Xizang, W Yunnan (Dali Xian) [Bhutan, India, Kashmir, Myanmar, Nepal, Sikkim].