Herbs perennial, 20--40 cm tall, erect, sparsely pubescent, drying black. Roots fleshy. Stems 1 or 5--10, branched basally or unbranched, with lines of hairs. Leaves alternate. Basal leaves withering early, petiolate or distal ones ± sessile; petiole to 2 cm; leaf blade linear-oblong or lanceolate-oblong, 4--7(--10) X 0.8--2 cm, abaxially glabrous and whitish scurfy, adaxially sparsely pubescent or glabrescent, pinnatisect; segments 7--15 pairs, linear-lanceolate, pinnate-double dentate. Inflorescences racemose, to 13.5 cm, lax; bracts leaflike. Proximal pedicels to 6 mm, slender. Calyx 4--5 mm, ca. 1/2 cleft anteriorly, glabrescent; lobes 3, equal, entire. Corolla white, with purplish beak, 1.4--1.8 cm; tube erect, ca. 2 X as long as calyx, sparsely pubescent; galea bent at a right angle apically, distinctly crested, recurved; beak falcate, to 7 mm, slender, clearly crested; lower lip long ciliate. Filaments pubescent. Capsule lanceolate-oblong, ca. 1.3 cm X 5 mm. Fl. May--Aug, fr. Aug--Oct.