Herbs, perennial, 5-16(-30) cm tall, glabrous or rarely finely papillose on inflorescence and leaf veins abaxially. Rhizome vertical, short, thin, buried below scree-or soil-surface, with pale fleshy scales, apically with rosette of leaves from narrowly ovoid bulb, emitting several long thin slightly fleshy pale roots. Stems few to several, ascending, 5-16 cm, thin, simple or often branched, with 2 or 3(or 4) leaves, often brownish purple, especially stems and abaxial surfaces and apices of leaf lobes. Rosette leaves: petiole 2-10 cm; blade 1-4 × 1-3 cm, abaxially often densely and finely papillose, especially on veins, 2-4 × ternate with deeply lobed leaflets; primary leaflets long stalked, secondary leaflets shortly stalked; ultimate lobes narrowly obovate, 2-4 mm, shortly mucronate. Cauline leaves similar but shortly stalked. Racemes dense, 3-7-flowered, not elongating in fruit; bracts often purplish brown, 5-10 mm, 1-3 × ternatisect, with acute lobes. Pedicel 7-10 mm, thin, erect in fruit. Sepals broadly triangular to lanceolate, 1-2 mm, deeply dentate to almost entire, with purplish suffusion. Corolla pale blue to clear azure blue, sometimes with purplish suffusion; inner petals pale, dorsal crests apically deeper blue, but usually white at extreme apex; outer petals with broad obtuse lamina, ecristate or usually with narrow crest not reaching apex; upper petal 16-19 mm; spur subsigmoidally curved, slightly tapering, 9-10 mm; nectary 1/2-3/5 as long as spur; lower petal usually with small pouch or spurlet at very base, abruptly widening into ca. 7-mm-wide shallowly emarginate limb; inner petals 9-10 mm. Stigma broad, slightly emarginate, with 4-6 simple marginal papillae; geminate papillae lateral (rarely missing) and in basal corners. Fruit pendent from erect pedicel, fusiform, ca. 10 × 3 mm, usually ± densely papillose on veins, 5-12-seeded; style ca. 3 mm. Seeds ca. 1.6 mm, smooth, with narrow elaiosome to 1 mm. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Aug-Sep.
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