Cyananthus is a genus that consists of about 30 species of annual or mostly perennial herbs from high mountains of Central and East Asia. They are little Himalayan plants not higher than 4in. The name comes from the Greek for blue flowers. Leaves are usually small and simple, sometimes narrowing to base, tooth-lobed at summit. In August to September, the plants bear showy of bright purplish-blue, yellow or white, funnel to bell-shaped, 5-lobed flowers 1in in diameter with stamens free from the corolla and hairy throat. The flowers are borne singly on stalks. They always lose the aerial parts during the coldest months, and as spring begins, stems and leaves quickly start to reproduce.