Herbs perennial, 10--30 cm tall, not drying black. Rootstock fleshy. Stems single, erect, branched apically or unbranched, densely woolly pubescent. Proximal leaves petiolate, distal ones sessile; petiole to 1 cm; leaf blade ovate-oblong, 2--2.5 X 0.8--1.2 cm, fleshy, densely pubescent on both surfaces, pinnatifid; segments 7--9 pairs, dentate, teeth callose. Inflorescences short racemose or spicate, 6--10-flowered; bracts 1--1.4 cm X 5--7 mm, pubescent. Pedicel short or ± absent. Calyx 1--1.1 cm, membranous, villous; lobes 2, rounded, ca. 1/4 as long as tube, serrulate. Corolla purple-red, 2--2.5 cm; tube 8--11 mm, slightly exceeding calyx; galea falcate, 1.3--1.5 cm; beak ca. 1.5 mm, erose, truncate; lower lip longer than galea, 1.3--1.4 X 1.1--1.3 cm. Filaments glabrous. Fl. Jul--Oct, fr. Sep--Oct.