Pedicularis cristata Maximowicz (1888), not Vitmann (1789).

Herbs annual, to 50 cm tall, woody basally, not drying black. Roots woody. Stems 1--6, erect or outer ones ascending, branched apically or unbranched, with 4 dense yellow lines of hairs. Leaves opposite or in whorls of 5; petiole to 1 cm, densely yellow villous; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, 2--3 X 0.7--1.5 cm, abaxially villous along veins, adaxially short bristly, pinnatisect; segments 6--12 pairs, lanceolate, pinnatifid, serrate. Inflorescences long spicate, to 20 cm, with flowers in whorls of 3 or 4, often interrupted; proximal bracts leaflike. Calyx white, membranous, slightly cleft anteriorly; lobes 5, ± equal, narrowly triangular-lanceolate, entire. Corolla reddish purple; tube erect, 8--9 mm; galea bent apically, ca. 1 cm, distinctly crested; beak bent downward, ca. 6.5 mm; lower lip ca. 1.1 X 1.3 cm, middle lobe not hoodlike. Anterior filament pair densely pubescent. Capsule compressed, ovoid, ca. 1.4 cm X 6 mm, obliquely apiculate. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Jul.

* Cliffs, meadows in valleys, open or shrubby grasslands; 1900--3000 m. SW Gansu, N Sichuan.