Roots slender, fibrous. Stem simple, erect, 0.4-2 m. Leaves mostly (4 or)5-verticillate, basal ones usually 3-verticillate or opposite, petiolate, longer than internodes; leaf blade abaxially usually glaucous, oblong-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, 4-8 × 2.5-3.5 cm, base cuneate, margin few dentate, apex acute, tip obtuse. Cyme subglobose, 2-6 cm wide, densely flowered; bracts ovate. Flowers pedicellate. Sepals triangular-ovate, 0.5-1 mm, base subconnate. Petals free, greenish to yellowish white, oblong-elliptic, 3.5-5 mm, base attenuate, apex acute. Antesepalous stamens slightly longer than petals; epipetalous ones slightly shorter than petals. Nectar scales linear-cuneate, apex emarginate. Carpels shortly stipitate, obovoid to oblong, 2.5-5 mm. Styles short. Seeds brownish, narrowly ovoid. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep.
Grassland slopes, shady moist places on sides of ravines; at elevations from 900-2,900 metres. Riverbank thickets, river alluvium, meadows, valleys.