Dracocephalum psammophilum C. Y. Wu & W. T. Wang

A close relative of Dracocephalum fruticulosum and recently reduced to a subspecies of it.

Rhizomes robust, woody, ca. 1 cm in diam. Stems purplish, erect, 6-7 cm, ca. 1 mm in diam., densely retrorse minute hairy. Cauline leaves petiole ca. 0.3 mm; leaf blade elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 5-6 × 2.5-3.2 mm, ± succulent, gray-green when dry, base rounded to obtuse, margin of mid cauline leaves 1-3-denticulate or 1-3-denticulate-serrulate, apex rounded to obtuse. Verticillasters on 3 or 4 upper stem nodes, in 1-1.5 cm spikes; floral leaves bractlike, margin spinescent-denticulate, with spines 2.5-3 mm; bracts elliptic, oblong, or spatulate, 2.5-3 mm, margin 1-3-spinescent-denticulate, with spines 0.5-1.5 mm. Calyx ca. 7.5 mm, campanulate-tubular, densely minute hairy, glandular, margin ciliolate, glabrous inside, 2-lipped to 1/3 calyx length, tube ca. 5 mm; upper lip teeth divisions to 2/3 its length, teeth triangular, 1.5-1.8 mm, apex acute, purple when dry, middle tooth of upper lip slightly wider than lateral teeth; lower lip 2-toothed to base, teeth lanceolate-triangular, apex acute. Corolla blue-purple, 1.3-1.5 cm, densely pubescent; tube slender, ca. 1 mm in diam., abruptly dilated to 3 mm wide; upper lip broadly elliptic, ca. 3 mm, lower lip ca. 3 mm. Fl. Jun.

* Deserts. Ningxia

Dracocephalum fruticulosum Stephan subsp. psammophilum (C. Y. Wu & W. T. Wang) H. C. Fu & S. Chen.