Shrubs small, 40-50 cm tall, much branched; bark purple-brown, slightly longitudinally exfoliating; branchlets dense, densely retrorsely hispidulous, spinescent at apex. Leaves clustered, rarely solitary; petiole complanate, 1-2 mm, hispidulous; leaf blade ovate-oblong or oblong, 4-6 × 2-3 mm, subleathery, both surfaces glabrous, midvein prominent abaxially, base subcordate or nearly hastate, margin entire, apex obtuse; ocrea red-brown, ca. 3 mm, membranous, oblique, glabrous, apex acute or obtuse. Inflorescence terminal, racemose, 1-2 cm; bracts ovate, glabrous, apex acute, each 3-5-flowered. Pedicels longer than bracts, 1.5-2.5 mm, slender, articulate at middle. Perianth yellow-green; tepals elliptic, veined, unequal, outer 2 smaller, reflexed in fruit, inner 3 larger, accrescent, ca. 2.5 mm, appressed in fruit. Stamens unequal. Stigmas capitate. Achenes broadly ovoid, nearly orbicular, 4-5 mm in diam., trigonous, winged along angles, apex acute; wings pinkish, 7-8 × 8-9 mm, thinly membranous, slender veined, margin nearly entire. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Aug-Sep.

* Dry riverbanks, thickets in valleys; 3000-3400 m. Xizang (Gyaca, Mainling, Nangxian).