Herbs perennial, 8--25 cm tall, not drying black. Rootstock stout. Stems 1 to several, longitudinally striate or grooved, pubescent, with numerous persistent scales at base. Leaves basal and on stem, numerous, dense; petiole to 4.5 cm, pubescent; leaf blade lanceolate-oblong to linear-oblong, to 9 X 3 cm, abaxially whitish pubescent along midvein, adaxially sparsely lanulose, pinnatisect; segments 6--12 pairs, narrowly ovate to lanceolate or triangular, pinnatipartite, double dentate, teeth callose. Inflorescences compact spikes, 4--15 cm, densely whitish villous; proximal bracts leaflike, distal ones 3-lobed, whitish pubescent. Calyx to 1.4 cm, without reticulate venation, densely whitish villous; lobes 5, unequal, longer than wide. Corolla yellow, 1.4--1.8 cm; tube erect; galea falcate, ca. as long as tube; beak short, apex truncate; lower lip ca. as long as galea. Filaments pubescent. Capsule long ovoid, compressed, ca. 1.5 cm X 7 mm, long apiculate. Fl. Jun--Jul, fr. Jul--Aug.