Elsholtzia strobilifera (Benth.) Benth.

Herbs annual. Stems (2-)5-15 cm tall; branches and stem brown, crisped white pilose. Petiole 2-12 mm, densely pilose; leaf blade ovate, 0.5-2.5 × 0.3-2 cm, herbaceous, purple at least abaxially, sparsely fine pilose, brownish glandular, densely pilose on veins, base broadly cuneate, margin serrulate, apex acute. Spikes cylindric, 1-2.5 cm × 6-8 mm, ca. 4 cm in fruit, terminal; verticillasters 6-10-flowered; bracts united into a shallow cup at each node, each mucronate, densely overlapping, membranous, many veined, abaxially sparsely fine pilose, yellow glandular, ± purplish, margin ciliate. Calyx tubular, membranous, transparent, ca. 2 mm, sparsely pubescent, golden glandular outside, glabrous inside; teeth subequal, lanceolate, margin ciliate. Corolla white or reddish, 3-4 mm, sparsely puberulent outside, glabrous inside; tube slender, funnelform; upper lip emarginate; middle lobe of lower lip longer and wider, margin entire. Stamens included. Nutlets yellowish, ellipsoid. Fl. and fr. Sep-Nov.

Himalaya (Kashmir to Bhutan), Tibet, Burma, China.

Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan [India, Nepal].

Stainton 1698, TI 6302712. 1900-4800 m

Hills, grasslands, open areas in forests, thicket margins, valleys; 2300-3700 m.

Cyclostegia strobilifera Bentham; Elsholtzia exigua Handel-Mazzetti; E. strobilifera var. exigua (Handel-Mazzetti) C. Y. Wu & S. C. Huang.