A perennial plant 10-25 cm tall. Roots to 20 × 1.5 cm. Stems ascending, stout, simple, glabrous. Basal leaves petiole 2-4 cm, membranous; leaf blade linear-elliptic to elliptic-lanceolate, 5-15 × 0.8-1.4 cm, base narrowed, margin scabrous, apex acuminate, veins 3-5. Stem leaves 3-5 pairs; petiole 5-10 mm, shortened toward apex; leaf blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 2-5 cm × 2-4 mm, base obtuse, margin scabrous, apex acuminate, veins 1-3. Cymes few to many flowered. Pedicel to 3 cm. Calyx tube 7-10 mm, membranous, entire or rarely slightly split on 1 side; lobes 1-5, linear to subulate, 3-8 mm, unequal. Corolla dark blue-purple, with yellow spots in throat, funnelform or campanulate, 2.5-4.5 cm; lobes ovate-elliptic to ovate, 4-7 mm, margin entire, apex obtuse; plicae ovate to triangular, 1.5-2 mm, margin entire or erose, apex obtuse. Stamens inserted at or just below middle of corolla tube; filaments (0.8-)1-1.2 cm; anthers narrowly ellipsoid, 2-3 mm. Style 2-4 mm; stigma lobes oblong. Capsules sessile, narrowly ellipsoid, 2.3-3 cm. Seeds light brown, ellipsoid, 1.2-1.5 mm.

Analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antirheumatic, diuretic, febrifuge, hypoglycaemic and hypotensive (roots)

Flora of China
Plants For A Future

The root is used internally in the treatment of digestive problems, rheumatic or rheumatoid arthritis, allergic inflammations, low-grade fever in chronic diseases, jaundice and hepatitis.

Jing-Nuan Wu. An Illustrated Chinese Materia Medica. P: 332, Oxford University Press, Inc.2005.