Herbs perennial, to 18 cm tall, densely gray downy throughout, drying black. Stems 1 to several, cespitose, unbranched. Basal leaves forming a sparse rosette. Petiole 1.5--5 cm; leaf blade lanceolate-oblong to linear-lanceolate or ovate-oblong, 5--7 X 0.7--2 cm, abaxially densely brown villous along veins, adaxially densely ciliolate, pinnatifid; segments 9--19 pairs, ovate-triangular to triangular, crenate-dentate. Stem leaves few, usually pseudo-opposite, smaller than basal leaves. Inflorescences racemose, 4--11 cm; proximal bracts leaflike, shorter than flowers. Pedicel erect, 1--1.5 cm, densely villous. Calyx cylindric, 0.8--1.2 cm, cleft 1/2 anteriorly, densely villous; lobes 5, unequal. Corolla purple-red; tube slightly expanded and curved apically, ca. 1.4 cm, pubescent; galea prominently crested, marginally 1-toothed on each side; beak strongly curved; lower lip ca. 9 mm X 1.7 cm, lobes rounded. Filaments pubescent. Capsule ovoid. Fl. Jul--Aug, fr. Aug--Sep.
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