Herbs annual, 5--20 cm tall. Stems single, erect, densely long pubescent. Leaves opposite or whorled; proximal ones long petiolate and distal ones sessile, ciliate; leaf blade lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, 1--2 cm, glabrous or glabrescent, pinnatifid to pinnatisect; segments 7--20 pairs, rounded, margin entire. Inflorescences spicate, few flowered, interrupted basally; bracts palmatilobate, ciliate. Proximal pedicels ca. 2 mm, distal flowers sessile. Calyx ovate-cylindric, ca. 7 mm; lobes 5, unequal, posterior one subulate, very small, lateral lobes ± narrowly ovate, whitish long pubescent, serrate. Corolla red-purple, with dark purple galea; tube ca. as long as calyx; galea bent at a right angle apically; beak bent ± downward, straight, ca. 5 mm, slender; lower lip shorter than galea, ca. 5--7 X 4--10 mm, middle lobe broadly triangular-ovate, much projecting, slightly hoodlike apically. Filaments glabrous throughout. Fl. Jul--Aug.