A perennial plant (10-)20-50 cm tall. Flowering stems simple, erect, rigid, woody at base, papillate when young. Basal rosette absent or very poorly developed. Stem leaves 7-15 pairs; lower leaves 2 or 3 pairs, scalelike, membranous; middle to upper leaves with petiole 5-8 mm, margin ciliolate; leaf blade oblong, ovate-oblong, obovate-lanceolate, or obo-vate, 1.2-4.5 × 0.7-2.2 cm, thick herbaceous to subleathery, margin slightly revolute and scabrous, apex obtuse to rounded, veins 1-3. Inflorescences terminal clusters, 3-10-flowered, rarely also subapical axillary clusters on pedunclelike branches. Flowers sessile; calyx narrowly obconic, 1-1.2 cm, tube membranous; lobes very unequal, larger 2 lobes oblong to obovate-oblong, 5-8 mm, base narrowed, apex obtuse, vein 1; smaller 3 lobes, linear to lanceolate, 2-3.5 mm, base not narrowed, apex acuminate, vein 1; corolla violet, with blue spots in throat, tubular-campanulate, 2.5-3 cm; lobes broadly ovate, 5-5.5 mm, margin entire or denticulate, apex acute; plicae triangular, 1.5-2 mm, oblique, margin entire, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted at basal part of corolla tube; filaments 1.4-1.6 cm; anthers narrowly ellipsoid, 2.5-3 mm; style 2-3 mm; stigma lobes linear. Capsules ovoid-ellipsoid to ellipsoid, 1-1.2 cm; gynophore to 1.5 cm. Seeds light brown, subglobose, 0.6-1 mm.

Flora of China

The dried roots and rhizomes are used in treating jaundice, scrotal swelling, perineal pruritus, and yellow, thick leukorrhagia and eczema, persistent high fever, spasm, convulsion, for fire of excess type in the liver and gallbladder with headache, fullness in the hypochondriac region, bitter taste in the mouth, and deafness.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 334, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.