Kutki is sold to village traders who airlift it to Nepalganj for sale. The rootstock and stem of Kutki are useful with high medicinal value. The synonym of this species is Picrorhiza kurroa Hook. The skin of the rootstock is thick, wrinkled and prominently stratiated. The rhizome is evanescent inside, hence it can be easily compressed.
Leaves are radical, spatulate and sharply serrated.
The flower of this taxon is white or pale blue-purple in dense terminal spicate raceme. Fruits are borne in ovoid capsules. It grows naturally in alpine regions on rock scars as well as in organic soils. In Nepal, Kutki is distributed abundantly in alpine Himalaya between 3500m to 4800m altitudes. It found in the eastern and central regions of Nepal, but most abundantly in the western region where it grows on the rock s crevices on the north facing slopes, cliffs and the turf of glacial flats.