Herbs annual, (15--)30--80 cm tall, villous, not drying black. Stems erect, leafy. Stem leaves in whorls of 3 or 4; proximal petioles short; leaf blade linear-lanceolate, 3--5 cm X 7.5--10 mm, pinnatisect; segments 10--15 pairs, lanceolate, pinnatifid, with ovate divisions, dentate. Inflorescences often interrupted basally; bracts leaflike. Pedicel short. Calyx campanulate, ca. 6 mm, tomentose; lobes 5, lanceolate, serrulate. Corolla red, 7--9 mm; tube ca. 5 mm, pubescent; galea erect, slender, apex acute but beakless; lower lip shorter than galea, spreading, ca. 5.5 mm wide, lobes rounded, equal, ciliate. Filaments glabrous. Capsule ovoid-lanceolate, ca. 1.2 cm X 5.5 mm, ca. 2 X as long as calyx, obliquely apiculate. Fl. and fr. Jul--Sep. 2n = 16.

Sand dunes along beaches, field margins, dry ground; 3000--4500 m. S Xizang [Bhutan, Nepal, Sikkim].