Herbs annual or biennial, 5-15 cm tall. Stems several, cespitose, often branched from base, short appressed pubescent. Basal leaves frequently withered after anthesis, oblanceolate-spatulate, 1-2 cm × 2-8 mm, short appressed pubescent, base attenuate into petiole, apex obtuse; stem leaves sessile, ovate-oblong, 0.8-1.2 cm × 2-4 mm. Inflorescences racemelike, 5-10-flowered; bracts 1-3 below, leaflike, sharply reduced to absent above. Pedicel erect at anthesis, mostly ascending in fruit, 3-5 mm, short appressed pubescent. Calyx lobes erect at anthesis, divaricate in fruit, linear-oblong to oblong, 1-2 mm, densely appressed pubescent outside, sparsely appressed pubescent inside at apex. Corolla light blue, light purple, or white, campanulate-tubular; tube ca. 2 × as long as lobes; appendages obscure; lobes suborbicular, 0.5-0.7 mm. Anthers ovate, 0.2-0.3 mm. Gynobase ca. 0.5 mm. Nutlets dorsiventrally compressed, sparsely pubescent or subglabrous, 1-1.2 × ca. 0.8 mm excluding marginal glochids; adaxially keeled on center line, becoming winged above attachment scar; disc flat or slightly convex; marginal glochids lanceolate-triangular, confluent into a broad wing; attachment scar below middle adaxially, ovate. Fl. and fr. Jul-Sep.

* Hillsides, roadsides, sandy and gravelly areas, rivers, rocky crevices; 3500-4900 m. Gansu (Jiuquan Xian), Xinjiang, Xizang (Amdo Xian).