Rhizomes with thick cylindric roots. Stems few, erect, ca. 20 cm, sparsely pubescent basally, densely retrorse pubescent at apex. Leaves pinnatisect, palmatisect toward stem apex, sessile or subsessile; leaf blade ovate, 0.9-2.6 × 1-2 cm, base broadly cuneate, adaxially glabrous, abaxially dense strigose along veins; segments pairs 3 or 4, opposite or subopposite, 2-6 mm from each other along midrib, obliquely spreading at an obtuse angle, linear, 0.7-1.7 cm × 0.8-1.6 mm, margin entire, revolute when dry, apex obtuse. Verticillasters 2-4-flowered, on 5 or 6 upper nodes; bracts similar to cauline leaves but smaller, ca. 4 mm, with a pair of lobes at middle, pubescent. Calyx 1.4-1.6 cm, densely pubescent, ciliate, 2-lipped to 1/3 its length; teeth equal, narrowly triangular, apex subulate-acuminate; upper lip 3-toothed, with divisions to 4/5 its length. Corolla blue, 2.6-2.8 cm, densely pubescent. Fl. Aug-Sep.

Related to Dracocephalum tanguticum but verticillasters few flowered in upper leaf axils.

* Grassy hillsides; ca. 2800 m. Yunnan (Dali Xian, Heqing Xian)