Japan Flora: Glabrous annual or biennial 2-10 cm. high; stems simple or branched; lower leaves obovate-spathulate, small, the median and upper ones oblong to ovate, 1-1.5 cm. long; flowers pale blue, pedicelled; calyx deeply 4- to 5-parted, the segments unequal, oblong, elliptic, or ovate, subacute, 3- nerved, 4-7 mm. long; corolla deeply 4- to 5-lobed, the tube very short, glabrous, the lobes oblong, about 1 cm. long, yellow- red nerved, with 2 small pocketlike glands at base; capsules as long as or slightly longer than the corolla; stigma decurrent on the ovary; seeds fusiform or oblong, smooth, about 0.6 mm. long. Aug.-Sept. Alpine;

Honshu (centr. distr.); very rare. Widely distributed in the alpine regions of the N. Hemisphere.