Herbs, perennial, 60-80 cm tall. Stem dark red, sparsely pubescent. Leaves alternate; lower leaves petiolate; petiole 2-3 cm, narrowly winged; upper leaves sessile or shortly petiolate; blade elliptic-lanceolate, 6-12 × 2-3.5 cm, both surfaces densely white hirsute, base cuneate, margin sinuate or irregularly crenate, apex acuminate. Racemes terminal, 10-30 cm; bracts leaflike, lower ones much longer, but upper ones sometimes shorter than flowers; pedicels 5-13 mm, densely white hirsute. Hypanthium shortly oblong, 4-6 × 4-6 mm, densely white hirsute; calyx lobes linear-lanceolate, 6-14 × 1-1.5 mm, reflexed at fruiting, densely white hirsute, margin glandular-denticulate. Corolla purple-red to blue-purple, ca. 2 cm, lobes hairy along midrib and ciliate; upper lobes ascending, linear; lower lobes spreading, ovate-lanceolate. Filament tube glabrous or sparsely puberulent; anther tube ca. 5 mm, back sparsely pubescent; lower 2 anthers barbate at top. Capsule shortly columnar, 7-8 × 5-6 mm, base truncate, concave. Seeds ellipsoid, slightly compressed. Fl. and fr. Aug-Oct.