Herbs to 40 cm tall, glabrescent except for inflorescences, drying black. Stems single, erect or slightly flexuous, usually branched basally. Leaves alternate, mostly basal, short petiolate or sessile; proximal petioles to 7 cm, slender; leaf blade linear-lanceolate, 2--6 cm X 7--9 mm, pinnatisect; segments 10--14 pairs, ovate, pinnatifid and incised-double dentate. Inflorescences racemose, to 10 cm, lax basally; bracts leaflike, longer than calyx. Pedicel erect, ca. 5 mm. Calyx to 1.2 cm, sparsely pubescent, shallowly cleft anteriorly; lobes 5, unequal, all serrate, lateral ones often deeply divided. Corolla crimson, 2.5--2.8 cm; tube erect, ca. as long as calyx, sparsely pubescent; galea curving from base ± in a circle; beak linear, ca. 8 mm, curved, forming a complete circle with galea; lower lip ca. 1 X 2 cm, slightly ciliate. 2 filaments pubescent apically, 2 glabrous throughout. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Aug.