Annuals 2-8 cm tall. Stems ascending, branched throughout, densely papillate. Basal leaves withered at anthesis; petiole 1-2 mm, densely papillate; leaf blade ovate-elliptic, ovate, or ovate-orbicular, 6-10 × 5-9 mm, base narrowed, margin thick cartilaginous and ciliolate, apex obtuse and cuspidate, midvein distinct. Stem leaves recurved; petiole tube 0.5-1 mm, papillate; leaf blade spatulate to obovate, 4-7 × 1.5-3 mm, shorter to longer than internodes, base narrowed, margin thick cartilaginous and densely ciliolate, apex rounded and mucronate, midvein distinct. Pedicel 2-8 mm, densely papillate. Calyx obconic, 5-8 mm, tube outside sometimes densely papillate; lobes recurved, ovate to ovate-orbicular, 1.5-2 mm, base narrowed, margin thick cartilaginous and densely ciliolate, apex acute, midvein prominent. Corolla blue, tubular to funnelform, 7-10 mm, scarcely exserted from calyx; lobes ovate, 1.5-2 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse; plicae ovate, 1-1.2 mm, margin entire or denticulate, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted at middle of corolla tube, equal; filaments 2-2.5 mm; anthers ellipsoid, 0.7-1 mm. Style 1-1.5 mm; stigma lobes broadly oblong or semiorbicular. Capsules narrowly obovoid to obovoid, 3.5-5.5 mm; gynophore to 8 mm, stout. Seeds dark brown, ellipsoid, 0.8-1 mm. Fl. and fr. Apr-Sep.

River banks, roadsides, valleys, wastelands, steppes, scrub, alpine meadows; 100-4200 m. Hebei, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi [NW India, Kazakhstan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, E Russia].