Annuals 3-6 cm tall. Stems ascending, much branched from base, densely papillate. Basal leaves withered at anthesis; petiole 1-2 mm; leaf blade ovate-lanceolate, ovate-elliptic, or ovate, 3-10 × 1.5-6 mm, base rounded, margin thick cartilaginous, apex acute and cuspidate, midvein prominent. Stem leaves widely spaced, shorter than internodes; petiole tube 0.5-1 mm, papillate; leaf blade base rounded, margin thick cartilaginous, midvein prominent; lower to middle stem leaf blades ovate-triangular, 1.5-3 × 1.5-3.5 mm, apex acute and cuspidate with a recurved tip; upper leaf blades reniform, 1.5-4 × 2-4.5 mm, apex rounded to truncate and mucronate with a recurved tip. Pedicel 1.5-3 mm, densely papillate. Calyx tubular, 5-12 mm; tube membranous; lobes recurved, or rarely erect, obovate to reniform, 1.2-1.5 × 1.5-2 mm, base rounded to cordate and contracted, margin thick cartilaginous, apex rounded to truncate and mucronate with a recurved tip, midvein prominent. Corolla blue to blue-purple, with pale yellow-green base, tubular to tubular-salverform, 0.9-2.1 cm, 1.5-5 mm in diam. at throat; lobes ovate, 1.5-2.5 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse to rounded; plicae broadly ovate, 1-1.5 mm, margin erose, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted just above to middle of corolla tube, equal; filaments 1.2-4 mm; anthers narrowly ellipsoid, 1-1.2 mm. Style 1.5-3.5 mm; stigma lobes narrowly elliptic. Capsules narrowly obovoid to obovoid, 3.5-5 mm; gynophore to 1.8 cm, stout. Seeds light brown, ellipsoid, 1-1.2 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun-Sep.

Stream and river banks, grassland slopes, bogs, scrub, forests; 2700-4500 m. S Gansu, W Hubei, SE Qinghai, W Sichuan, S and SE Xizang, NW Yunnan [Bhutan, NW India, Nepal, Sikkim].