Herbs perennial, 19--39 cm tall. Stems single or sometimes several together, erect, straw colored, tinted with purple to dark purple, glabrous basally. Petiole to 8 cm basally; leaf blade lanceolate-oblong, 2--7 X ca. 3 cm, abaxially densely pale yellow pubescent, pinnatipartite to pinnatisect; segments pinnatipartite or incised-dentate. Inflorescences racemose, 5.5--11 cm, lax; bracts becoming narrowly ovate upward, margin white villous. Calyx purple-red, ca. 3 mm; lobes 5, triangular, ciliate, entire. Corolla purple-red; tube ca. 3 mm; galea strongly bent, apex with several dark purple spots; lobes of lower lip obtuse at apex. Fl. Jul--Aug, fr. Sep.