Herbs perennial, 10--20 cm tall, drying black. Roots fibrous, fascicled. Stems glabrescent. Leaves in whorls of 4 or sometimes proximal ones opposite, petiolate or distal ones ± sessile; petiole 2.5--4.5 cm; leaf blade ovate-oblong or ovate, 1.5--2.5 cm, pinnatisect; segments 9--13 pairs, ovate, pinnatifid, incised-dentate. Flowers in whorls of 4; bracts leaflike basally. Pedicel ca. 2 mm. Calyx tube ca. 3.5 mm, membranous; lobes 5, unequal, posterior one entire, lateral lobes larger, serrate. Corolla purple; tube erect, 7--8 mm; galea strongly bent apically; beak horizontal, ± straight, ca. 5 mm, slender; lower lip ca. 7 X 9 mm, ciliate, middle lobe smaller than lateral pair. Filaments glabrous. Fl. Jul, fr. Aug.
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