Herbs perennial, 20--25 cm tall, drying black. Stems several, branched near base; branches erect or ascending, slender, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Leaves mostly basal, alternate or proximal ones often pseudo-opposite. Petiole of basal leaves 5--9 cm, sparsely villous; leaf blade oblong-lanceolate to ovate-oblong, 3--7 X 1--1.8 cm, glabrous on both surfaces, sparsely whitish scurfy, pinnatisect; segments 5--7 pairs, ± oblong, pinnatipartite, spinescent-dentate. Stem leaves few, smaller than basal leaves, shorter petiolate. Inflorescences subcapitate, 3--5-flowered; bracts leaflike. Pedicel barely 1 mm. Calyx to 7 mm, 1/2 cleft anteriorly; lobes 2 or 3, unequal, posterior one, when present, smallest. Corolla purplish red, 1.7--2.1 cm; tube erect, longer than calyx, glabrous; galea falcate, conspicuously crested, with 1 reflexed marginal tooth on one side; beak ca. 5 mm, slightly cleft at apex, ± horizontal; lower lip slightly longer than galea, sparsely pubescent. 2 filaments pubescent, 2 glabrous.
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