Compact caespitose perennial with short stem caudices. Basal leaves oblanceolate, 8-12 x 2.5-6 mm, hairy on both surfaces, ciliate. Cauline leaves few, smaller. Inflorescence 3-7-flowered. Bracts leafy, 1-2 mm long; pedicels c. 1.5 mm long, hairy. Calyx lobes oblanceolate, c. 2.5. mm long, up to 4 mm in fruit, hairy. Corolla blue; tube ± calyx size, narrowed at the throat; lobes ovate, spreading, 2-3 mm broad; throat appendages linear. Nutlets 2-2.5 mm long, glabrous, margin dentate.

Fl. Per.: August.

Type: ‘Habitat in Sibiriae alpibus,’ coll. ignot. (LE).

Distribution: Altai, Siberia, Tibet, Afghanistan eastward to Kashmir.

This subspecies differs from the subspecies nanum in the fewer basal leaves, longer stems and shorter corolla. An alpine plant found from 3600-4700 m.