Herbs perennial, ca. 30 cm tall, ± drying black. Roots conical. Stems 1, 3, or 4, branched. Basal leaves withering early, long petiolate. Stem leaves alternate; petiole 0.5--1.5 cm; leaf blade oblong to oblong-ovate, 1--4 cm, abaxially densely white scurfy, pinnatipartite to pinnatisect; segments 5--9 pairs, obliquely ovate to oblong, serrate. Inflorescences centrifugal, subcapitate, lax basally; bracts leaflike. Pedicel 4--8 mm. Calyx 5--8 mm, densely white villous, 1/3 cleft anteriorly; lobes 5, unequal, ± flabellate, 3--5-cleft. Corolla bright red, ca. 1.6 cm; tube erect, longer than calyx; galea falcate apically; beak bent downward, straight, ca. 4 mm, slightly 2-cleft; lower lip ciliate. Anterior filament pair villous. Capsule ovoid, ca. 1.2 cm. Fl. Jul--Aug, fr. Aug--Sep.