Tragopyrum laetevirens Ledebour, Fl. Altaic. 2: 75. 1830.

Shrubs 30-80 cm tall. Stem spreading, stout, branched; woody branches flexuous, slender, without spines, with dark gray bark; epidermis splitting fibrously, apex with leaves or flowers; herbaceous branchlets of current year dark brown, slender, with dense papillose hairs. Leaves bright green, orbicular or broadly elliptic, 1.5-2.3 × ca. 1 cm, leathery, abaxially with papillose hairs along midvein and margin, adaxially glabrous, base rounded, margin entire or undulate-crenate, apex rounded or obtuse, with a short point; ocrea brown at base, cylindric, with 2 faint veins, cleft into 2 slender teeth at upper portion. Pedicel ca. 1 cm, jointed at lower 1/3. Flowers fewer in terminal racemes. Tepals 5, pink, with white margins; outer tepals 2, reflexed in fruit, broadly ovate, smaller, ca. 1/2 as long as above-joint portion of pedicel; inner tepals 3, rounded cordate, 5-6 × 6-7 mm. Achenes dark brown, shiny, ovoid or trigonous-ovoid, smooth. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jul-Aug.

Stony mountain slopes, stony steppes; 900-1500 m. Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia].