Plants perennial. Rhizomes woody. Stem erect, 60-120 cm, solitary, appressed retrorse strigose. Petiole of basal leaves ca. 2 cm; lower stem leaf blades cordate-orbicular, 7-12 × 6-9 cm, 3-lobed, sparsely minutely hispid, base cordate, margin incised, apex acute; mid stem leaves ovate. Verticillasters sessile, 8-12-flowered; floral leaves reduced, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, margin irregularly incised to subentire, apex long acuminate; bracteoles spiny, ca. 7 cm, hispid. Flowers subsessile. Calyx tubular-campanulate, 7-9 mm, strigose, with spinescent teeth, veins conspicuously elevated; anterior teeth subulate-triangular, ca. 1 cm; posterior teeth triangular, ca. 5 mm. Corolla reddish or reddish purple, 2.5-2.8 cm, densely pubescent, scaly annulate inside, scaly near lower lip; tube gradually dilated at apex, ca. 1/2 as long as corolla; upper lip straight, oblong, concave, ca. 12 × 5 mm, margin entire; lower lip ca. 8 × 5 mm, middle lobe ca. 2 × as long as ovate lateral lobes, obcordate, conspicuously emarginate. Nutlets black-brown, oblong, triquetrous, ca. 2.5 mm, base cuneate, apex truncate. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Sep.
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A herb which keeps growing from year to year. The underground stems are woody. The stem is erect and 60-120 cm high. There is just one stem. The leaf stalk of the leaves near the base is about 2 cm long. The blades are heart shaped or rounded and 7-12 cm long by 6-9 cm wide. They have 3 lobes. The base is heart shaped. The edges of the leaf are incised. There are 8-12 flowers. They are red to purple. The nutlets are black to brown. They are oblong and 3 sided.
Grassy places and thickets in hills all over Japan. Grows in shady places in Kiangnan, China. Grassy slopes and thickets to 400 metres in Hebei, Jilin and Liaoning.
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It is a temperate plant. In China it grows on grassy slopes up to 400 m altitude in northern regions.