Herbs 30-80(-100) cm tall, hairs yellowish to golden yellow. Stems slender, usually branched at apex, sometimes branched basally, appressed or retrorse hirsute. Petiole 6-10 mm, densely hirsute; leaf blade lanceolate, 6-9 × 1-3 cm, adaxially appressed pubescent, abaxially sparsely puberulent, base broadly cuneate to subrounded, margin remotely, shallow serrate, apex acute; lateral veins 3-5 pairs, densely pubescent. Verticillasters axillary, few, widely spaced, many flowered, globose, 1.5-2.5 cm in diam.; bracts linear, at least as long as calyx tube, hirsute adaxially, glabrous abaxially. Calyx tubular, ca. 1 cm, apicaly enlarged, slightly curved, densely hispid, base sparsely hispid or subglabrous outside, throat densely villous, veins conspicuous, mouth truncate or slightly oblique; teeth spinescent, spreading starlike in fruit, ca. 3 mm, hirsute. Corolla white or purple, ca. 2.8 cm; tube ca. 1 cm, glabrous except for puberulent throat outside, bearded annulate inside; upper lip oblong, densely villous outside, glabrous inside; lower lip ca. 1.5 × as long, spreading, middle lobe trapeziform, 2-lobed, lateral lobes ovate. Nutlets brown, ovoid. Fl. Jul-Oct, fr. Oct-Nov.
Roadsides, streamsides, grasslands, thickets; at elevations from 500-2,800 metres.