Herbs perennial, 20--35 cm tall, base ± woody, densely gray pubescent, not drying black. Stems erect, leafy, not or sometimes 2- or 3-branched; branches forked or ascending. Leaves short petiolate (barely 1 mm) to ± sessile; leaf blade linear-oblong, sometimes ovate-elliptic basally, 2--6 X 0.3--1.8 cm, ± fleshy, densely tomentose on both surfaces, base attenuate to subcordate-clasping, double crenate, teeth callose, apex obtuse. Inflorescences short racemose, many flowered, interrupted basally; bracts leaflike, ovate, longer than calyx. Pedicel 1.5--2 mm, hispid. Calyx ca. 1.1 cm; tube to 1.8 cm, membranous, densely villous, scarcely cleft anteriorly; lobes 2(or 4), serrate. Corolla red or purple, 2.2--2.4 cm; tube erect, exceeding calyx; galea recurved apically; beak ca. 2 mm, apex truncate; lower lip 9--10 mm X 1.1--1.4 cm, slightly longer than galea, ciliate. 2 filaments sparsely pubescent, 2 glabrous. Fl. Aug--Sep, fr. Sep-Oct.

* Alpine meadows, grassy slopes, among limestone rocks; 2600--3400 m. NW Yunnan