Perennial rosette herb up to 7 cm; rhizome short with many reddish orange roots. Leaves lying flat on the ground, obovate, 2–4 cm long, 1–2 cm wide, base narrowing into a short broad petiole, apex obtuse to acute or shortly acuminate, margins entire, densely pubescent beneath, closely ciliate along the entire margins, glabrous and smooth above or at most with a few cilia towards the apex. Flowers arising from the centre of the rosette on a ± sessile inflorescence. Bracts lanceolate, up to 1 cm long, ciliate; pedicels 2–3 cm long, pilose. Calyx 6 mm long, up to 9 mm long in fruit, teeth acuminate, pubescent along the median veins. Corolla variable from purple or blue to pink with white and yellowish throat, ± 15 mm long, upper lip entire, lower lip 3-lobed, 10 mm long. Capsule as long as or slightly longer than the calyx, broadly ovoid.